An Interview with Talia Goldman

What year are you in your education? Have you chosen a major? If you have, what is it and why?

I’m a rising sophomore at Princeton intending to major in the Department of Art and Archaeology on the History of Art Track. I am so excited to be delving deeper into my long-held and continuing passion for art history–I love exploring how creativity and close looking provides infinite windows into the past and present. I am drawn to how visual art exists in social, cultural, and political contexts and provides a multitude of lenses through which to consider our own identities. I have absolutely loved my courses in the department this year and working with the Visual Resources Collection in my first year studying art history at Princeton!

What is your role in the Connecting Histories: The Princeton and Mount Athos Legacy project?

I am a Digital Imaging Specialist for the Connecting Histories: The Princeton and Mount Athos Legacy project. Using the copystand, I capture images of the Weitzmann negatives and edit the images in Adobe Photoshop. In this role, I’ve been able to enjoy many moments of learning, skill-building, and excitement about the Mount Athos manuscripts and digitizing the negatives.

What have you learned about Mount Athos, archives, or photography since working for this project? Has anything surprised you?

This project has been a wonderful learning experience for me! I’ve especially enjoyed learning about both analog and digital photography in this role and gaining insight into Weitzmann’s experience photographing the manuscripts through the folio details he chose to photograph or the subtle shifts between different negatives of the same folio. Going from the physical negatives to the digitized versions and combining analog and digital photography in one project, has allowed for many discoveries and surprises. In particular, I’ve been amazed at the astounding ornamentation in some of the manuscripts and the delicacy of the calligraphy and illustrated letters.

What is one of your favorite works of art that you have seen during this experience so far and why?

While most of the negatives are black and white, I came across a group of very small color negatives of some really beautifully illustrated folios. Because of the vibrancy of the color, these color negatives helped bring the manuscripts to life for me. Editing these particular images in Photoshop was quite exciting. Additionally, a group of images from the Philotheou monastery shows small sketches and looser drawings, and I can imagine the scribe’s process, perhaps planning for the folios or testing their pen with “doodles.”

Coffee or tea?

Tea (but coffee’s close)! Chai tea and London Fogs keep me going on campus, especially when it’s cold!

An Interview with Nadia Makuc

What is your role in the Connecting Histories: The Princeton and Mount Athos Legacy project?

As a digital imaging specialist, I capture images of the photo negatives taken by Weitzmann and then edit them so that they can be archived and studied digitally. So far, I’ve digitized images of manuscripts from Lavra, Hilander, Iviron, Dionysiu, Esphigmenou, and Panteleimonos.

What year are you in your education? Have you chosen a major? If you have, what is it and why?

I am a sophomore who just recently declared Classics as my major! I really enjoy the interdisciplinary nature of the study, and I’ve fallen in love with the languages of Latin and Ancient Greek. I’m also minoring in Medieval Studies though, as my interests lie in Classical transmission and manuscript studies in the Medieval West and Byzantium.

What have you learned about Mount Athos, archives, or photography since working for this project? Has anything surprised you?

I’m grateful to have been able to see such a broad sample of manuscripts and get a sense for recurring themes and styles. While there are a lot of similarities among different manuscripts and even in between monasteries, there will be the occasional drawing, font, or format which sticks out as unique, as if begging to be studied! It’s cool to see my own interests line up with Weitzmann’s, indicated by him having taken photos from multiple angles or a close-up – I feel like I’ve come to know the photographer too just by seeing his photos.

What is one of your favorite works of art that you have seen during this experience so far and why?

There are so many ornate borders and quirky creatures which I’ve found fascinating, but I think one of my favorites has to be an illumination of Jesus Christ in a chalice, as if a faithful would be drinking the man himself. It is not a usual motif, but evidently the artist took liberty with drawing an interpretation of the real presence of Jesus in communion.

Coffee or tea?

Generally tea, though I’ll never turn down a Greek freddo espresso.