The relationship between history and culture is undeniable, though complex.

Culture can be defined as those social practices whose prime aim is signification [1], i.e. making orders of "sense" for the world we live in. History is the cognitive, unfinished account of the happenings of the past. In this discourse, which aims to define a common vein between history and culture, we attempt to discover - the meaning, the representation for this relationship. Semiotics [2] demands to bring to the foreground a signifier to proceed with the analysis. What really, is the visible metric or academic evidence that we have to prosper our understanding? Art!

The temporariness and impermanence of history as well as the idea of differential natural selection in culture find themselves imbibed in the various art forms over the years. Citing [3], The "culture concept" in England has much to do with the organization of historical knowledge for adolescents in the British school system, here particular theories of the child-mind and application of Piagetian psychology, dictated that children should "discover" the past through a study of its artefacts. Through the clothes, the food, the architecture, the paintings etc. To further elaborate; let’s study the European canvas. To assess any work of art we study its formal properties, as also the subject matter and the historical context. Take for example the painting of The Last Supper(above) which has been painted repeatedly over generations, each time with a taste of its own time and culture. In Duccio’s version [4], we see Jesus sitting in the centre, some disciples in the foreground on the opposite side of the table and some on his. There is a halo behind Jesus' head signifying his other-worldliness. However the shape of the table or the hands or the way we see everybody’s faces in profile seems odd. We know it’s a two dimensional canvas on which a three dimensional setting is depicted, but our eyes cannot follow the shape sizes as we see normally. Now if we see Da Vinci’s version [5], these anomalies are gracefully treated. He uses linear perspective, using the centre of Jesus’s forehead as the vanishing point. Jesus still has the central importance, but there is no halo. Now if we look at Gustavo Dores’ version [6], the halo is back and again we see some disciples sitting on the
opposite side of the table. Aptly visible is the painter’s attention towards staging. All the faces seem emotive like never before.

Does it mean that this is a better painting? The Medieval Europe had umpteen wars and destruction [7] and religion emerged as the pacifier, it elevated the spiritual and denounced the flesh. Hence the gold-plated halos, blues made out of Lapis Lazuli, both very rare and expensive materials. Duccio wasn’t even attempting to create characters that look normal. But this changed in Renaissance. There was intense research and debate and Da Vinci’s work is a sign of this material progress. People were tired of the atrocities of the church. Those were subtle attempts to bring back Ancient Roman and Greek traditions. The ideas of contrapposto and chiaroscuro were reimagined. There is a sense of realism and humanism here. Romanticism, which followed this, strictly condemned the pride of ‘The Enlightenment’ period, citing that not everything can be reasoned and they idealized the Middle Ages as a period of spiritual adventure. Sufficient to examine the similarities in Duccio and Dores’ work; however Dores’ society has progressed and learned with time to evolve a newer sense as well. These are some things about the culture and history that art tells us. But there are many things it doesn’t tell. Like women painters weren’t allowed to use oil paint and had to use water colours, which was considered a weaker medium. It doesn’t tell us how some forms like painting went on to be regarded as *high art* and other artists’ guilds weren’t valued as much. Thus even the signifier does not convey the complete reality. Hence even though we know that there is a distinct relationship between the two facets, it isn’t simple enough to be represented completely through material mediums.

[7] Viking Raids (793–1066); Battle of Hastings (1066); Crusades I–IV (1095–1204); Black Death (1347–1351); Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453).