| This dissertation treats Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848-1936) as a case study in how American Renaissance muralists conceptualized vision, viewers, and the mural's relationship to architectural space. Period mural literature and the visual evolution of American Renaissance murals reveal artists' growing awareness that murals require sophisticated coordination with architectural space. Close examination of Blashfield's murals, his correspondence and published writings, and contemporary criticism, suggests subtle consideration of viewers' relationships to the illusionistic space of murals, conditioned by specific architectural contexts. The notion that Blashfield envisioned a corporeal viewer in a complex architectural environment is supported by analysis of the murals as well as scholarship in late-nineteenth-century visuality and architectural history that addresses the subjectivity and variability of vision. I contend that Blashfield's murals reflect scrupulous attention to architectural context and recognition that viewers experience murals dynamically and variably, as elements within the built environment.;Guided by the practical problems of mural painting and the complexities of vision, four chapters focus on murals designed for particular architectural contexts: domes, pendentives, stair halls, and legislative chambers. For each architectural setting, two mural commissions are examined, with attention to their creation, reception, and the range of possible viewing positions. An introductory chapter explores aspects of Blashfield's background as an easel painter and illustrator that would influence his mural painting practice. |
