Kinship and politics in the art of plaster decoration
KINSHIP AND POLITICS IN THE ART OF PLASTER DECORATION This thesis explores the flowering of decorative plasterwork in late renaissance Scotland, its main focus being what influenced its development, the motivation of its leading patrons, and its role in the culture of Scotland at this time. The thesis begins by assesses why plasterwork has received much less attention in Scotland compared with other building materials, primarily stone, and whether this is as a result of Scotland’s architectural history being misunderstood in its British context. Early seventeenth-century Scotland was experiencing a building boom, its patrons increasingly benefiting from government positions, better education and foreign travel, exposing them to a wide range of influences at a time when houses and estates, (the main signals of status and rank) were being much transformed and domestically improved. This period heralded a burst of decorative plasterwork patronage throughout the country. This thesis analyses the influences which existed in late renaissance interiors in Scotland and whether a native tradition of decorative plasterwork existed in Scotland, and what influence this had on later decorative plasterwork styles. This thesis also gauges the affect that an absent court had on patronage and whether significant cycles of patronage can be interpreted by a study of seventeenth century plasterwork schemes in Scotland, and the role that decoration played in the culture of Scotland at this time. Finally, this research assesses the evolution of plaster throughout the century and why it may have developed differently from English work, and considers the changing role of decorative plasterwork in the late seventeenth century.
The origins of Freemasonry
List of plates Preface List of abbreviations and conventions 1. Introduction 2. The medieval contribution 3. William Schaw, master of works and general warden 4. The Sinclairs of Roslin and the masters of works 5. The Renaissance contribution 6. Rituals of identification and initiation 7. Sir Robert Moray: masonry, symbolism and ethics 8. The early Scottish lodges 9. Early Scottish and English freemasonry Appendix Bibliographical note Index.
Colleagues as Change Agents: How Department Networks and Opinion Leaders Influence Teaching at a Single Research University
This study investigates colleague–colleague relationships within life sciences departments and how they may promote teaching reform. The authors found that discipline-based education researchers are perceived as promoting changes among colleagues in views about teaching and teaching practices. Other faculty may also be leveraged to support change.