Wiebke Windorf, 30, has every reason to be proud. She received the 2005 drupa prize on 26 April in Düsseldorf from drupa president Albrecht Bolza-Schünemann (CEO Koenig & Bauer AG) and Werner M. Dornscheidt (CEO of Messe Düsseldorf)
Tags:
2005 drupa Prize goes to art historian Wiebke Windorf for his work on the altarpieces in St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome, as propaganda The drupa Prize is being awarded for the thirtieth time this year. Endowed with Euro6000, the award which recognises exceptional theses submitted to the Faculty of Arts at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, traces its origins back to 1978.Windorf’s theses questioned what motives inspired the creation of altarpieces? Do they offer a one-to-one representation of reality or do they portray fictional events intended to evoke an emotional response from believers and fan the fires of their faith? Did artists adhere strictly to the specifications of the Cardinals or did they allow themselves the artistic licence to overstep the boundaries of their briefs? These are the key questions that Wiebke Windorf is concerned with in her thesis, “Sakrale Historienmalerei in Neu-St Peter. Faktizität und Fiktionalität in der Altarbildausstattung unter Papst Urban VIII, ” (Sacred historical painting in New St. Peter’s. Fact and fiction in the altarpieces under Pope Urban VIII, ). Ms Windorf’s research focused on the 15 altarpieces commissioned in the 1620s and 1630s for the new St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Almost without exception, the 15 works depict a martyr’s death or miracle from the life of the saint to whom the altar is devoted.
The 30-year-old’s doctoral research called for frequent trips to Rome and legwork in the Vatican archives. Access to the archives was granted only after a drawn-out authorisation process. In a comment only an academic would make she said, “Working in the Vatican Library with the original 17th century documents was truly thrilling. It was very difficult to resist the temptation to let myself be sidetracked from my thesis and dip into the ancient texts to my heart’s content.”
As far back as 1978, drupa organiser Messe Düsseldorf launched the drupa Prize, endowing it with financial means for the publication and distribution of exceptional academic theses submitted to Düsseldorf’s Heinrich Heine University. Each year a panel of experts including the vice-chancellor and provost of Heinrich Heine University, the drupa president as well as the president and CEO of Messe Düsseldorf decides on the winning candidate.
