Decorum
Decorum or decorum (Latin = that which is befitting) denotes a principle of ancient rhetoric and includes what is appropriate and appropriate in public speech and poetry as well as in behavior (Latin = decorum vitae ). A thing or behavior is considered appropriate "if something can be considered appropriate from a certain point of view and within a given framework". What is considered appropriate and decent in a society, i.e. what does not violate Decorum, depends on the prevailing norms and taboos that are relevant in a particular society.
Decorum was brought into play again and again by art theorists, state bodies, church representatives or moral watchmen under changing historical circumstances, without ever being more precisely defined. Thus the decorum , ie offenses against the decorum, could be used as an argumentative weapon in the dispute between theories or theory and practice.
rhetoric
In ancient times, Decorum is treated in the context of rhetoric . Public speaking should be of an appropriate style, structure, length, timing, and type of audience to which the speaker is addressing. Discussions on the relationship between language and speech and the facts to be conveyed can already be found in Aristotle's poetics .
Using the example of the drama, Horace explains that the content of a play must reflect the time shown historically. Style and language should be appropriate to the subject of the piece, the situation, the genre and the age as well as the character of the characters involved. The same is true of art.
According to the Roman rhetorician Quintilian, the credibility of a speaker is strengthened by adhering to the decorum, it facilitates the handling of particularly sensitive court cases, such as rape or proscription as well as dealing with people from the lower classes, from other countries and cultures. With Cicero the decorum is fulfilled when virtue manifests itself in action: Decorum is an aspect of virtue , just as beauty is an aspect of health.
Visual arts
As an art theoretical term, it can be traced back to two different meanings of the Latin word decere . From decet = it adorns, adorns, dresses, fits , decor and decoration develop , while the decorum in the ancient rhetoric and the adoption of this term by the art theorists of the Renaissance is chic, belonging, and fitting . In this sense, the term aims at the dignity of the appearance of an object, which should correspond to the intended purpose. In all theoretical considerations, however, binding rules have never emerged. Decorum is always related to the topic and location, client and audience and has to be weighed up in each individual case by the artist and his client.
In the course of the reception of ancient rhetorical literature, such as Cicero and Quintilian , and the discussion of Vitruvius , the concept of Decorum found its way into the art and especially architecture theoretical debate of the Renaissance. Criteria for an appropriate representation in history pictures can be found in Alberti's painting treatise in the rhetorical terms of aptum (Latin = appropriate), convenevolezza (= what is due), modo and ordine (= manner and arrangement), collocatio (= orderliness) and ornamentum (= Jewelry).
After the Council of Trent , the Decorum was reassessed in the field of religious art. The representation of nudity in the church should no longer be tolerated, as it offends against the dignity of the place. Changes in attitudes towards what is considered morally appropriate are reflected in the context of the art policy of the Roman Catholic Church, which was promoted during the Counter-Reformation, and the corresponding actions of the Inquisition .
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A prominent example is the case of the Last Supper, which Veronese painted for the refectory of a Venetian monastery. Veronese had to comment on the presence of servants, mercenaries and dogs before the Inquisition. The picture was then renamed "Banquet in the House of Levi".
Michelangelo also fell victim to new moral sensitivities. On the instructions of Pius IV , Daniele da Volterra had to paint over something offensive on Michelangelo's “ Last Judgment ” in the Sistine Chapel , which earned him the nickname “Trouser Painter” among mockers.
Caravaggio , whose pictures deliberately violated all painting conventions in force at the time, was valued by his church patrons, who provided him with commissions for their private rooms. For the altarpiece of St. Matthew in San Luigi dei Francesi he had to paint a second version, since Matthew, painted as a peasant, did not correspond to the decorum of an apostle. Bellori reports it in his vite, which was written around 50 years after Caravaggio, from his point of view as a classicist , but there are no contemporary sources on this process. On the other hand, the commission for S. Luigi dei Francesi began Caravaggio's rise to the top rank of Roman artists. B. reflected in the significantly increased prices for his pictures.
A “ modello ” by Peter Paul Rubens , which he had made for his painting “The Last Communion of St. Francis of Assisi”, was also painted over. A monk's habit was painted in rough lines on the saint's naked body. It was done so bungled that the habit does not nestle against the shoulder, but continues upwards in folds. Although Rubens stuck to the tradition in the altarpiece that Francis allowed himself to be laid naked on the earth of the Portiuncula chapel in his last hours, as when he was born , and thus received his last communion, the painter or his client were still around 1617 (or later) so caught up in the re-evaluation of nudity in religious art by the decree on the veneration of saints (1563) of the Council of Trent that they overlooked the painter's intention.
An example from the 19th century are the panels with the first parents Adam and Eve of the Ghent Altarpiece , which an anonymous painter dressed in a fur apron.
Adam of the Ghent Altarpiece, around 1430
Eve of the Ghent Altarpiece
Adam and Eve on the Ghent Altarpiece based on the Decorum ideas of the 19th century
Decorum in society and politics
The principle of a social decorum or propriety is closely linked to the observance of social conventions , pleasing manners and manners and the code of conduct of a certain time, a certain social class and a certain institution or organization. Of fundamental importance in the premodern world of states , they also play a role that can hardly be overestimated in today's international relations.
In the 18th century, lawyers, state theorists and educators had to grapple with the great factual significance of the rules of social distinction and fashion. As an instrument of social self-regulation, these rules were of relevance for domestic conditions and were often safeguarded by police measures.
The German early Enlightenment Christian Thomasius puts the term in a context with natural law . The Decorum is of normative power, it prescribes mandatory social behavior, but violations cannot be legally sanctioned . The Decorum reflects those areas of social regulation that Thomasius does not take into account in the positive law interpreted as a compulsory order.
A more outward transmission of Decorum principles can be found in Lord Chesterfield's letters to his son. The letters were written with the intention of making the son fit for a political career and successful work in the diplomatic arena.
While the word has now practically died out in the German-speaking world, it is still very much alive in the Anglo-Saxon countries. Not only in the schoolyard, but also in court, in parliament, in the UN , the observance of a Decorum is demanded. As part of its Model UN program , the UNO offers a study program for young diplomats from all over the world under the motto “ Bridging the Education Gap and Creating Global Citizenship ”, which also includes a course on Decorum in general and around the customs in the UN in particular counts.
See also
literature
- Hans Schulz, Otto Basler, Gerhard Strauss: Decorum . In: German Foreign Dictionary. Pp. 188-189.
- Harald Fricke , Klaus Grubmüller, Klaus Weimar: Aptum, decorum in: Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Berlin 1997. ISBN 3-11-010896-8
- Ian Rutherford , U. Mildner: Decorum In: Concise Dictionary of Rhetoric. [HWR] Vol. 2, 1972. Col. 424-451.
- Decorum in: The Dictionary of Art . Vol. 8, 1999. pp. 612-613.
- Jane Nardin: Those Elegant Decorums. The Concept of Propriety in Jane Austen's Novels . New York 1973. ISBN 0-87395-236-7
- Miloš Vec : Ceremonial Studies in the Princely State: Studies on the Legal and Political Theory of Absolute Representation of Power . Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann 1998. ISBN 3-46502940-2
- Heiner Mühlmann : The nature of cultures . Draft of a cultural genetic theory. Aesthetics and Science. Civilization of cultures. Edited by Bazon Brock , therein: Decorum. Pp. 50-94. Vienna, New York 1996. ISBN 978-3-211-82778-9 full text
- Sybille Ebert-Schifferer : Caravaggio. See - be amazed - believe . The painter and his work. Munich: Beck 2009. ISBN 978-3-406-59140-2
- Alberto Gil : Hermeneutics of Appropriateness - Translational Dimensions of the Concept of Rhetoric Decorum . In: Larisa Cercel (Ed.): Translation and Hermeneutics. Traduction et Herméneutique. Bucharest: Zeta Books 2009. (Translation Studies 1.) ISSN 1867-4844 full text
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ HWR, Vol. 2, 1994. Col. 423.
- ↑ Ut pictura poesis - Like painting so poetry In: Horaz: Ars Poetica. The poetry. Lat./German. 2nd edition Stuttgart 1984.
- ↑ HWR. Sp. 428.
- ↑ hoc decorum quod lucet in vita. De officiis. Section 98.
- ↑ The little Stowasser . Munich 1980. p. 123.
- ↑ Christine Tauber: His pictures were ideally suited for bribery. In: FAZ.NET , November 21, 2010.
- ^ Vec 1998.
- ↑ Chesterfield: Letters to his son Philip Stanhope on the strenuous art of becoming a gentleman , Ed. Friedemann Berger. Munich 1984. ISBN 3-406-09485-6
- ^ Parliamentary decorum
- ↑ Model UN, Bridging the Education Gap and Creating Global Citizens , accessed October 21, 2018.
- ^ Decorum. UNA-USA's Global Classrooms Presents DECORUM , accessed October 21, 2018.