Representations of Medieval Chivalry in American Art, 1870- 1930

Although seemingly incongruous with American ideals of democracy, individuality, and the "common man", images of medieval chivalry have been popular in the United States for centuries. This thesis will examine the American fascination with the Middle Ages and its chivalric ideal in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as manifested in American art. The Cult of Chivalry in the antebellum South, the Neo-Gothic buildings on college campuses and the passion American youth have had for the Arthurian romances are evidence of the American interest in the medieval past. Since the knight has been such a pervasive icon of the medieval past, I have concentrated on notions of medieval chivalry in American uses of the Middle Ages between 1870 and 1930. For most Americans and Europeans, the knight evoked ideas of the Middle Ages, Europe and chivalry. A significant number of the medieval-themed works were murals and book illustrations; therefore, this study looks at examples from both the fine and popular arts. The abundance of images of knights and related narratives has allowed me to focus on a limited number of images while still engaging a wide range of relevant issues, such as gender, race, antimodernism and cultural hegemony.