
Welcome medieval art researchers, students, scholars, and enthusiasts.
Medieval Art Research is a resource run by researchers at The Courtauld and elsewhere to provide news, views and upcoming advice from the world of medieval art history. It does not represent the views of The Courtauld.
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Latest News

New Publication: ‘Urnes Stave Church and Its Global Romanesque Connections’, edited by Kirk Ambrose, Griffin Murray and Margrete Syrstad Andås
This book situates the art and architecture of the stave church of Urnes within a global perspective and aims to reinvigorate scholarly interest and debate in one of the world’s most important churches. Urnes is the oldest and best known of the Norwegian stave churches. Despite its rich sculptural program, complex building history, fine medievalContinue reading “New Publication: ‘Urnes Stave Church and Its Global Romanesque Connections’, edited by Kirk Ambrose, Griffin Murray and Margrete Syrstad Andås”

Lecture: ‘Forgotten Friars: the Visual Culture of the Gesuati’, The Murray Seminars at Birkbeck, Online, 8 June 2022, 5:00 BST
Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/forgotten-friars-the-visual-culture-of-the-gesuati-tickets-319575578157?aff=ebdsoporgprofile Among the least known of the later medieval mendicant orders active in Italy are the Apostolic Clerics of Saint Jerome, better known as the Gesuati, founded by the Sienese merchant Giovanni Colombini and officially recognized by Pope Urban V in 1367. Until their suppression in 1668, the Gesuati were active inContinue reading “Lecture: ‘Forgotten Friars: the Visual Culture of the Gesuati’, The Murray Seminars at Birkbeck, Online, 8 June 2022, 5:00 BST”

Lecture: ‘Mass Production of Books Before Printing’, John Coffin Memorial Lecture in Palaeography, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 8 June 2022
Lecture: ‘Mass Production of Books Before Printing’ Speaker: Professor David D’Avray, FBA, Emeritus Professor of History, University College London Address: The Chancellor’s Hall, First Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU Event date: 8 June 2022, 6:00PM – 8:00PM Attendance is free; registration required. Book here: https://sas.sym-online.com/registrationforms/iesbooking_12345655/done/ For more information: https://ies.sas.ac.uk/events/john-coffin-memorial-lecture-palaeography Contact: IESEvents@sas.ac.uk

Call for Papers: “Burials in the Mediterranean Middle Ages”, Minima Medievalia, Deadline 15 July 2022
The act of preparing the final resting place for the mortal remains of members of medieval communities is one of the practices that found many forms of material expression and countless artistic forms in the Mediterranean world. The most salient aspects of a person’s life could be recalled in evocative apparatuses, even very complex ones,Continue reading “Call for Papers: “Burials in the Mediterranean Middle Ages”, Minima Medievalia, Deadline 15 July 2022″

Prize: ICMA Annual Book Prize, Deadline 31 May 2022
The ICMA invites submissions for the annual prize for best single- or dual-authored book on any topic in medieval art. To be eligible for the 2022 competition, books must have been printed in 2021. No special issues of journals or anthologies or exhibition catalogues can be considered. The competition is international and open to allContinue reading “Prize: ICMA Annual Book Prize, Deadline 31 May 2022”

Call for Applications: Host the 23rd Annual Vagantes Conference in 2024, Deadline 31 August 2022
The Vagantes Conference on Medieval Studies is now accepting applications for their 2024 host institution. The conference is an interdisciplinary graduate student conference focusing on the Middle Ages. It is entirely organized and run by graduate students. Vagantes is a unique opportunity to showcase the Medieval Studies community at your institution, as well as toContinue reading “Call for Applications: Host the 23rd Annual Vagantes Conference in 2024, Deadline 31 August 2022”

Job Opportunity: Part-time Research Assistant (Medieval Ukraine), Index of Medieval Art, Princeton University, Deadline 1 June 2022
The Index of Medieval Art invites applications for a four-month, remote, part-time research position to assist in incorporating key mosaics and paintings of medieval Kyiv into the Index database. This position is made possible by a 2022 Flash Grant from the Princeton University Humanities Council and consists of a $5,000 honorarium to be directed toContinue reading “Job Opportunity: Part-time Research Assistant (Medieval Ukraine), Index of Medieval Art, Princeton University, Deadline 1 June 2022”

Lecture: ‘Words for Images: Contemporary Vocabulary and Early Netherlandish Painting’, The Murray Seminars at Birkbeck, Online, 10 May 2022, 5:00 BST
Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/words-for-images-contemporary-vocabulary-and-early-netherlandish-painting-tickets-319521305827 The surviving works of early Netherlandish painting are a woefully inadequate representation of what once existed. Written records are therefore vital for supplementing what survives, as well as for exploring contemporary context and significance. Although the art of the past is inevitably seen through modern preconceptions, examination of past terminology mayContinue reading “Lecture: ‘Words for Images: Contemporary Vocabulary and Early Netherlandish Painting’, The Murray Seminars at Birkbeck, Online, 10 May 2022, 5:00 BST”

Call for Applications: Spring 2023 Research Residency in Naples, Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia” / The Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database Project, deadline 30 June 2022
The Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia” (a partnership between the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History and the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte) and the Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database Project invite applications for a Spring 2023 Research Residency in Naples that brings together art history,Continue reading “Call for Applications: Spring 2023 Research Residency in Naples, Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia” / The Medieval Kingdom of Sicily Image Database Project, deadline 30 June 2022”

Lecture: ‘Museums – Britain and the World in the Middle Ages: Image and Reality’, Paul Mellon Centre, Online, 12 May 2022, 6:00 BST
Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/museums-britain-and-the-world-in-the-middle-ages-image-and-reality-tickets-287817458767 Roots and Routes: Medieval Art in the Global Museum This lecture will examine the role of display in shaping our ideas about the medieval period. By looking at permanent collections alongside important recent exhibitions, we address the following questions: How do we communicate a shared Roman heritage for Islam, Judaism andContinue reading “Lecture: ‘Museums – Britain and the World in the Middle Ages: Image and Reality’, Paul Mellon Centre, Online, 12 May 2022, 6:00 BST”

Lecture: ‘Movement – Britain and the World in the Middle Ages: Image and Reality’, Paul Mellon Centre, Online, 5 May 2022, 6:00 BST
Book tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/movement-britain-and-the-world-in-the-middle-ages-image-and-reality-tickets-287813807847 The movement of art objects both into and out of medieval Britain was significant not only in itself, but because of the impact that those imported objects had. In my lecture I hone in on a remarkable group of English tiles, called the Chertsey tiles, and their extraordinary textual inscriptions, asContinue reading “Lecture: ‘Movement – Britain and the World in the Middle Ages: Image and Reality’, Paul Mellon Centre, Online, 5 May 2022, 6:00 BST”

Conference: ‘Meta, Matrix, Mater. Renaissance Metaphors of the Matrix’, Paris and Online, 13 June 2022
The female sex has become the core of an increasing number of early modern studies since the rise of a gender-sensitive feminist viewpoint in art history. Many have dealt with images of a hairless and polished vulva, sometimes ostensibly eroticized. Pending this approach, the 2022 CHAR Workshop, Meta, Matrix, Mater. Renaissance Metaphors of the Matrix,Continue reading “Conference: ‘Meta, Matrix, Mater. Renaissance Metaphors of the Matrix’, Paris and Online, 13 June 2022”
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Seminars and Lectures

Lecture: ‘Orality – Literacy – Digitality: Medieval Perspectives on the Digital Age’, IHR Europe 1150-1550 Seminar, 5th May 2022, 17:30 GMT
The Institute of Historical Research is delighted to invite you for the final seminar of this academic year.

Lecture: ‘Image, Pattern, Repetition: The Craft of Romanesque Sculpture in Southwest England’, by Dr Alex Woodcock, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 21st April 2022, 18:00 GMT
Dr Alex Woodcock is a writer, tutor and former cathedral stonemason.

Online Lecture: ‘Lacunae of Art History and Kyiv’s Visual Culture’, by Olenka Z. Pevny, 22nd April 2022, 17:00 GMT
Dr. Olenka Z. Pevny is Associate Professor of Slavic and Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge.

Seminar: ‘Configuring the Monastic Space: Early Medieval Experiments’, University of Milan and Online, 21st April – 3rd May 2022
The workshop will explore this architectural experimentation, seeking to identify, and to contextualize, similarities, differences, and trends.

Seminar: ‘Medievalists Beyond the Academy’, Medieval Academy of American Graduate Student Webinar, 30th March 2022 19:00 EST
In this conversation moderated by leading independent scholar Laura Morreale, panelists will share their pathways from their PhD to their current position, followed by a live Q and A with questions submitted by our audience.

Lecture: ‘The Black Death and the Justinianic Plague – Useful Frameworks for Historical Comparison? Insights from Big Data Paleoecology’, with Dr. Adam Izdebski and Dr. Kevin Bloomfield, 29th March 2022, 12:00 EST
The lecture will take place on Zoom on 29th March at 12:00 EST.
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Call for Papers

Call for Papers: ‘Women, Agency, and Architecture in the Premodern World’, 78th Annual Meeting of SECAC, 26th-29th October 2022 (Deadline 19th May 2022)
The Maryland Institute College of Art is excited to act as the institutional host for the 78th annual meeting of SECAC in Baltimore, MD, from October 26-29, 2022.

Call for Papers: ‘Early Modern Global Political Art’, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 20th-21st October 2022 (Deadline 31st May 2022)
This symposium will investigate visual media that communicated political ideas, arguments, positions, and forms of resistance in the early modern period.

Call for Papers: ‘The History and Historiography of Fashion(s)’, Perspective: Actualité en histoire de l’art (Deadline 16th May 2022)
Two complementary definitions of fashion emerge and these underlie the two approaches that this issue of Perspective seeks to develop: the first aims to determine formal changes in dress and variations in the laws of appearances, while the second conceives of a single, cyclical renewal of taste that inspires customs and thus goes far beyond items of clothing and their accessories.
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Conferences

Conference: ‘Death and Dying’, Harlaxton Medieval Symposium 2022, 15th-18th August 2022
The Harlaxton Symposium is an interdisciplinary gathering of academics, students and enthusiasts which meets annually to celebrate medieval history, art, literature and architecture through a programme of papers selected around a chosen theme. This year’s symposium will be convened by Dr Christian Steer and Dr Jenny Stratford.

Online Symposium: ‘Utopia’, NYU MARGIN Graduate Symposium, 6th May 2022
Registration is now open for NYU MARGIN’s 2022 Graduate Symposium.

Conference: ‘Transitions 2022’, Centre for Medieval Studies Postgraduate Conference, University of Bristol, 29th-30th April 2022
After the success of the 2021 ‘Rules and Regulations’ and ‘Disruption’ Conference, the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Bristol invites you to yet another highly topical conference in the longest standing medievalist PGR conference series: the 2022 Transitions Conference.
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New Publications

New Publication: ‘Riemenschneider in Rothenburg: Sacred Space and Civic Identity in the Late Medieval City’, by Katherine M. Boivin, PSU Press
Using altarpieces by the famed medieval artist Tilman Riemenschneider as touchstones for her argument, Boivin explores how artwork in Germany’s preeminent medieval city, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, deliberately propagated civic ideals.

New Publication: ‘Visual Translation: Illuminated Manuscripts and the First French Humanists’ by Anne D. Hedeman, Notre Dame Press
With over 180 color images, this major reference book will appeal to students and scholars of French, comparative literature, art history, history of the book, and translation studies.

New Publication: ‘How Do Images Work? Strategies of Visual Communication in Medieval Art’, ed. by Christine Beier, Tim Juckes and Assaf Pinkus
This anthology examines the workings of historical imagery in fourteen essays, offering fresh perspectives from leading researchers on a wide range of medieval and early modern artworks in a similarly wide range of functional contexts.
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Medieval Jobs

Internship: The Medici Archive Project Summer Internships, 6th June – 15th July 2022 (Deadline 30th April 2022)
The Medici Archive Project offers internships for undergraduates and graduate students. This year they will run from the start of June to mid-July at MAP’s headquarters in Palazzo Alberti in Florence.

Job Opportunity: Director, Institute for Medieval Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences (Deadline 18th April 2022)
The Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW), Austria’s central non-university research and science
institution, seeks to appoint a new Director (F*M) with tenure at the Institute for Medieval Research.

Postdoctoral Fellowship: 2023 Postdoctoral Fellowships – Migration and Mobility, University of Tübingen (Deadline 31st March 2022)
The Centre for Advanced Studies “Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages” at the University of Tübingen, Germany invites applications for resident fellowships starting in 2023.
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Journal Publications

CFP: Fenestella. Inside Medieval Art, Thematic Issue 3/2022: ‘Configuring Monastic Architectural Settings: Early Medieval Experiments’, deadline: 30 June 2022
Fenestella is a scholarly, multilingual, and peer-reviewed open access journal. Fenestella publishes scholarly papers on medieval art and architecture, between Late Antiquity and c. 1400, covering the Latin West, the Byzantine East and medieval Islam. We are now accepting proposals for the 2022 Thematic Issue: CONFIGURING MONASTIC ARCHITECTURAL SETTINGS: EARLY MEDIEVAL EXPERIMENTS The planimetric andContinue reading “CFP: Fenestella. Inside Medieval Art, Thematic Issue 3/2022: ‘Configuring Monastic Architectural Settings: Early Medieval Experiments’, deadline: 30 June 2022”

CFP: ‘Ritual: Practice, Performance, Perception,’ Cerae Volume 9, deadline 30 April 2022
Rituals pervade human life. From small or mundane rituals like brushing our teeth or making one’s daily coffee, to grand ceremonies that mark important life stages, rituals are everywhere. This has prompted reflection on what rituals are, on what can be considered as ritual. Ceræ: An Australasian Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies invites essays thatContinue reading “CFP: ‘Ritual: Practice, Performance, Perception,’ Cerae Volume 9, deadline 30 April 2022”

Open Access Journal: ‘Fenestella. Inside Medieval Art’ – Issue 2-2021.
Fenestella is a scholarly and peer-reviewed open access journal. It is published by Milano University Press, and powered by OJS 3. Issue 2 – 2021 was published on December 28th and can be viewed here: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/fenestella/issue/view/1760 Fenestella publishes scholarly papers on medieval art and architecture, between Late Antiquity and c. 1400, covering the Latin West,Continue reading “Open Access Journal: ‘Fenestella. Inside Medieval Art’ – Issue 2-2021.”
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Funding & Scholarships

PhD Studentship: Medieval Greek Linguistics, Ghent University (Deadline 23rd April 2022)
The successful applicant will write a doctoral dissertation in the digital humanities/Greek linguistics on the philological accuracy of the Greek text of the sources that constitute MELA’s digital grammar.

PhD Fellowship: eikones Graduate School, Center for the Theory and History of the Image, University of Basel (Deadline 17th April 2022)
The eikones Graduate School at the Center for the Theory and History of the Image at the University of Basel invites applications for two positions for doctoral study on the theory and history of the image for four years beginning September 1, 2022.

PhD Opportunity: ‘PeopleAndWriting’, University of Salamanca (Deadline 30th June 2022)
The University of Salamanca invites applications for two 3-years PhD Students positions to obtain a PhD degree in Medieval History, starting in August 2022.
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Exhibitions & Art Fairs

Exhibition: ‘Gold’, British Library, London, 20 May – 2 October 2022, tickets available in February 2022
The British Library has announced a new exhibition, Gold, which will run from 20 May to 2 October 2022. Gold has long held the power to dazzle and ignite feelings of wonder. This new exhibition will take visitors on a journey to over 20 countries to discover how gold has been used to embellish andContinue reading “Exhibition: ‘Gold’, British Library, London, 20 May – 2 October 2022, tickets available in February 2022”

Exhibition: North Sea Crossings: Anglo-Dutch Books and the Adventures of Reynard the Fox, The Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, 3 December 2021–18 April 2022
About the exhibition North Sea Crossings tells the story of Anglo-Dutch exchanges through beautiful medieval manuscripts, early prints, maps, animal stories and other treasures from the Bodleian’s collections. For centuries the North Sea has been a highway connecting Britain with its Dutch neighbours, a mere 33 kilometres away at its closest point. Focusing on theContinue reading “Exhibition: North Sea Crossings: Anglo-Dutch Books and the Adventures of Reynard the Fox, The Weston Library, Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, 3 December 2021–18 April 2022”

Exhibition: ‘The Illuminated Bibliotheca: Production and Circulation of the Bible in Portugal’, National Library of Portugal, 28th October 2021 – 22nd January 2022
The exhibition focusses on the Romanesque Bible manuscripts that have been preserved in Portuguese collections.
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Resources

Podcast Episodes: Les Enluminures, Sacred Measurements (Episode 33) and Feasts (Episode 34)
Episode 33 – Sacred MeasurementsMedieval measurement developed as a bodily reference tool, often relying on an object’s relationship to the human body to determine its size, scale or weight. Today, measurement may seem like a natural part of our lives, but have you ever wondered how a unit of space or volume was developed? WhatContinue reading “Podcast Episodes: Les Enluminures, Sacred Measurements (Episode 33) and Feasts (Episode 34)”

Podcast Episode: Les Enluminures, Time, Daylight, and a November Calendar
Les Enluminures have released the 32nd episode of their podcast, available online via this link. Short winter days are now upon us. Usually we don’t consider the actual day to be shortened, however. There may be less daylight, but the measure of the day does not change throughout the year. Why is this? The transitionContinue reading “Podcast Episode: Les Enluminures, Time, Daylight, and a November Calendar”

News: Paul Mellon Centre Public Study Room is open
The Public Study Room at the Paul Mellon Centre in Bedford Square is delighted to announce it is open again. The study room will be open by appointment only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, between 10.30-12.45 and 13.15-15.30. The rest of the Centre (PMC) will be open by invitation only on these same days ofContinue reading “News: Paul Mellon Centre Public Study Room is open”
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