Medieval Art Research

Lecture Series: British Archaeological Association, Spring 2018

The British Archaeological Association is delighted to announce our upcoming lectures:

7 March – ‘Awake thou that sleepest: The Resurrection of Mary Magdalene in Central Europe’ by Dr Zoe Opacic
4 April – ‘Bridgwater Friary: A provincial town and the Franciscan friars in late medieval Somerset’ by Dr Hannah Wesyt
2 May – ‘ Inventing Vaults in the Twelfth Century: Salamanca, Al-Andalus and France’ by Dr Tom Nickson

All lectures take place at the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House (Piccadilly) at 5.00 pm. Tea is available from 4.30 pm.

Further information about the BAA, the lectures and past events can be found on our website https://thebaa.org/

Conference L’architecture gothique, entre réception et invention. Impact, continuité et réinterprétation (xiie – xxe siècle) Journée doctorale du Centre Chastel 10/03/2018

Cette journée doctorale du Centre André Chastel est consacrée à une réflexion sur la réception de l’architecture gothique comme langage flexible, à même de créer de nouvelles formes artistiques.
L’ objectif de la rencontre est de faire dialoguer des jeunes chercheurs de formations et de pays divers autour de la portée et de l’influence de ce phénomène dans des contextes différents de celui d’origine, et de partager leurs réflexions méthodologiques, les problématiques et les résultats de leurs recherches.

La journée est organisée par Camilla Ceccotti et Emanuele Gallotta, doctorants en cotutelle de la Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université, Paris (Centre André Chastel) et de l’Université de Rome « La Sapienza » (Dipartimento di Storia, Disegno e Restauro dell’Architettura), avec le soutien d’Antonella Fenech Kroke (chargée de recherche, CNRS) et de Thierry Laugée (maître de conférences, Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université, Paris).

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Call for Papers Metropolenbilder. Inszenierungen von Metropolität in Spätmittelalter und Renaissance (1200-1600) 26-27/11/2018 Deadline 15/05/2018

Notre-Dame-Cathedral-Paris

Der Aufstieg von Paris zur größten europäischen Stadt, zum Sitz der französischen Monarchie und zur führenden Universität des Abendlandes spiegelt sich in der zunehmenden Intensität der Diskurse über die Bedeutung der Seine-Stadt wider. In der Blütezeit des 16. Jahrhunderts schreiben sich Topoi wie diejenigen vom unvergleichlichen Paris („Paris sans Pair“) oder von der Weltstadt Paris („Lutetia non urbs, sed orbis“) in zahllose historiographische Texte, Briefe, Tagebücher, Karten und Bilder ein. Der Prozess der Bedeutungszuschreibung oder ‚Metropolisierung‘ beginnt aber schon im 12. Jahrhundert, und damit vor dem enormen Urbanisierungsschub des Spätmittelalters. Das Pariser Selbstbewusstsein, einem besonderen Gemeinwesen anzugehören, ist also nicht bloße Folge des demographischen, wirtschaftlichen und politischen Erfolges der Stadt. Die Diskurse über die Bedeutung moderieren vielmehr die Identitätsbildung als Metropole, aus deren Größe, Macht und Geschichte sich aktuelle politische oder kulturelle Ansprüche ableiten lassen. Ein solcher Prozess findet statt in Fremdzuschreibungen wie in Selbststilisierungen, Vergleichen mit historischen oder aktuellen Metropolen (Athen, Rom) und in der Multimedialität der Inszenierung. Entsprechende Selbstäußerungen können in fundierenden Stadtgeschichten (Gründungsmythen) und im Städtelob (Laus urbium) genauso verortet werden wie in Rechtstexten und Ego-Dokumenten, Ikonographie, Architektur oder herrschaftlichem Handeln.

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Call for Papers/Participation Interdisziplinärer Workshop: Verkörperte Konzepte – Personifikationen als Träger religiösen Wissens in Kunst und Literatur der Vormoderne 22-23/11/2018 Deadline 30/06/2018

Abstrakten Begriffen durch Personifikation eine körperliche Gestalt und eine Stimme zu geben, ist ein seit der Antike bekanntes ästhetisches Verfahren in Kunst und Literatur. Dieses diente nicht nur der Verlebendigung und der Überzeugung des Hörers bzw. Betrachters, wie es in Rhetoriktraktaten von der Antike bis in die Frühe Neuzeit formuliert wird. Die Übertragung eines abstrakten Begriffs in eine konkrete körperliche Gestalt leistete auch eine Veranschaulichung und Ordnung des jeweiligen Konzepts und der damit verbundenen Wissensbestände. Dieses Verfahren konnte damit zugleich zur Aktualisierung, Erzeugung und Transformation von Wissen beitragen. Grundlage des Workshops ist demnach ein Personifikationsbegriff, der dieses ästhetische Verfahren nicht einfach als Wiederholung der immer gleichen Gestaltungsmittel und Attribute versteht, sondern ihm ein eigenes epistemisches Potential beimisst.

Call for Papers 4th Conference of the International Bridges Group in Regensburg (August 25 – 26, 2018) Deadline 28/02/2018

Regensburg

After three successful conferences in London, Prague and Salisbury, the International Bridges Group will meet next in Regensburg on August 25 & 26, 2018. This year, we will cooperate with the “Gesellschaft für Stadtgeschichte und Urbanisierungsforschung” (https://gsu-stadtgeschichte.com/), the Chair of European History at Regensburg University and the Research Training Group KRITIS at Technische Universität Darmstadt. The conference willbring together historians, art historians, linguists and literary scholars, archaeologists and engineers in order to present and discuss new ideas on medieval bridges and the cities in which these bridges reside. Topics may include the construction and maintenance of medieval bridges, the evolution and growth of medieval cities with stone bridges, the iconography of statues on bridges, the functions (practical and symbolic) of stone bridges, and the types of institutions connected with medieval bridges. Bridges as a cultural heritage could be another topic: How are medieval bridges in cities today perceived, preserved, staged and marketed?

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Lecture Emmanuele Lugli “Chasing Absence: The Body of Christ and the Measures to Enter in Touch with it” 17:00 13/02/2018 Birkbeck

This talk focuses on the singular devotion for the ‘mensura Christi,’ or the act of praying with objects that reproduced the height of Christ. It explores the reasons for its phenomenal success, from its diffusion in the twelfth century up to its ban in the seventeenth, and the motives for its marginalization in historical accounts today. The talk asks questions about what turns an orthodox veneration into a mere superstition, an inversion that is all the more puzzling given that the ‘mensura Christi’ relies on measuring, one of the methods to fight credulity. The lecture thus reconsiders the relationships of measuring practices, visual belief, and religious orders, thus contributing to discussions on representations, faith, and material studies.

All this term’s seminars take place in the History of Art Department at Birkbeck (43, Gordon Sq., London WC1H 0PD) in Room 114 (The Keynes Library) at 5pm. Talks finish by 5.50pm (allowing those with other commitments to leave) and are then followed by discussion and refreshments. We hope to see you there.

Call For Papers/Participation INTERDISZIPLINÄRER DOKTORANDENWORKSHOP ZU MITTELALTERLICHEN SAKRALRÄUMEN 01.–08. August 2018 in Leifers / Südtirol Deadline 30/03/2018

Cologne-Cathedral Medieval Sacral Architecture

Wir freuen uns nach den vergangenen drei erfolgreichen Jahren im August 2018 zum 4. Interdisziplinären Doktorandenworkshop zu mittelalterlicher Sakralarchitektur einladen zu können. Im Zentrumdes Workshops sollen Fragen zu mittelalterlicher Sakralarchitektur, ihrer Entstehung, Gestaltung,Rezeption und Nutzung sowie der damit verbundenen ortsfesten und mobilen Ausstattung stehen. Im Fokus steht dabei ein interdisziplinärer Ansatz, der neue Blickwinkel auf Bauten des 9. bis 14. Jahrhunderts ermöglicht. Im Rahmen einer Klausurtagung erhalten 12 Teilnehmende die Möglichkeit,
ihre aktuellen Forschungsthemen vorzustellen und intensiv zu diskutieren.

Abseits von Tagungen etablierter Wissenschaftler bietet der institutionell unabhängige WorkshopNachwuchswissenschaftlern die Möglichkeit, sich unbefangen auszutauschen. Die Vielfalt der Fragestellungen unterschiedlicher Disziplinen und Wissenschaftskulturen ermöglicht einen Diskurs über aktuelle Problemstellungen der eigenen Forschungen, der von den individuellen Erfahrungen der Teilnehmenden profitiert. So wird der Blick nicht nur über den inhaltlichen, sondern auch über den
methodischen Tellerrand hinaus geweitet.

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Workshop Reflections: British Museum Handling Session: The Trinity, 24 January 2018

On Wednesday 24 January 2018 Lloyd de Beer and Naomi Speakman once again welcomed a group of staff and students from The Courtauld and elsewhere, as well as Sophie Kelly, PhD student from the University of Kent. The focus of our session was objects in the British Museum collection with links to the Trinity.

We looked at eleven objects with Trinitarian iconography, the earliest of which was the walrus ivory seal die of Godwin the Thane, dating from the early eleventh century. Beautifully carved with iconography inspired by Psalm 109 (110), ‘The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand and I will make thine enemies thy footstool’. The decoration on the handle consists of God the Father and Son in relief, enthroned over a prostrate human figure. We were very interested to investigate the evidence of damage above the two figures which, we agreed, was likely to have once included a symbol of the Holy Ghost in the form of a dove.

The Trinity also features on a fourteenth-century circular bronze seal-matrix (with wax impression) with a loop at top. Here the Trinity is depicted as three near-identical figures with an inscription ‘SCA TRINITAS.VHVS.DEVS’. The third seal which we saw was the fifteenth-century circular bronze seal-matrix (with wax impression) of the Friars of the Holy Trinity, Hounslow. Under a Gothic canopy with side-tabernacles the Trinity is depicted in a manner which allowed us to discuss different ways of representing the Trinity in the Middle Ages. Here, the iconography known as the Throne of Grace (Gnadenstuhl), is used. In these depictions of the Trinity, God the Father is seated and holds the cross upon which Jesus Christ is crucified in front of his lap, with the dove of the Holy Spirit alongside. This iconography became popular from the thirteenth century and is seen across a wide range of artistic media, including manuscripts, stained glass and stone carving. The Trinity depicted as the Throne of Grace also appeared on a late Medieval gold finger ring. With the help of a magnifying glass we were able to appreciate the detailed depiction of the Trinity on the oval bezel of the ring, which included the dove which is shown between Christ’s right arm and God the Father.

We discussed Plantagenet devotion to the Trinity evidenced through the lead Badge of the Black Prince of c.1376 which shows the Black Prince kneeling before Trinity (although the dove is missing). The Black Prince wears a tabard with Arms of England and has thrown down his gauntlet before him; above him is an angel in clouds holding his shield. We also looked at two Anglo-Saxon ivory plaques depicting the Crucifixion. Above the head of Christ, the Hand of God is depicted, thereby alerting us to the presence of two persons of the Trinity. This led to discussion related to how we might understand images where one of the member of the Trinity is ‘missing’; can the presence of the other person be implied?

An object which we all found challenging was a wood-carved relief representing the Trinity (also in the Throne of Mercy composition) dated 1450-1500 and including depictions of the Annunciation, St Francis of Assisi, St Bernardino and St Sebastian. The largest object encountered was a late Medieval alabaster Coronation of the Virgin which still shows traces of painting and gilding. Here the Virgin is surrounded by the persons of the Trinity represented as three crowned figures.

In preparation for the handling session we read the following texts and discussed them at a reading group the night before:

Bernard McGinn, ‘Theologians as Trinitarian Iconographers’, In: Jeffrey Hamburger and Anne-Marie Bouché The Mind’s Eye. Art and Theological Argument in the Middle Ages, Princeton, 2006, 186-207

André Grabar, ‘Dogmas Expressed in a Single Image’, In: Christian Iconography. A Study of its Origins, London, 1969, 112-127

Jacobus De Voragine, ‘The Holy Spirit’, In: The Golden Legend, Princeton, 1993, 299-306

We looked at the definition of the Trinity in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford, 1997), and were interested to explore the tension between theology and iconography. In particular, how can dogma such as the Trinity be represented? Grabar and McGinn have contrasting views on what constitutes ‘successful’ iconography; McGinn sees artistic experimentation and lack of iconographic stability as positives, whereas Grabar suggests that the fact an image appears in limited or isolated circumstances makes it a failure. To aid our discussions, we looked at some manuscript images of the Trinity. These included: British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius C vi (Tiberius Psalter); British Library, MS Cotton Titus D. xxvii (Ælfwine’s Prayerbook); British Library, MS Add. 34890 (Grimbald Gospels); British Library MS Cotton B IV (Aelfric’s Hexateuch); British Library, MS Harley 603 (Harley Psalter); MS Lansdowne 383 (the Shaftesbury Psalter); Winchester Bible, Winchester Cathedral; and St John’s College, Cambridge, MS K 26 (St John’s Psalter). We discussed the experimental nature of Trinitarian iconography and how this might help us understand the chancel wall painting of the Throne of Grace at the Church of St Mary, Houghton-on-the-Hill, Norfolk which is unique, and the earliest known appearance of this motif.

PhD Funding: Doctoral Studentship University of Warwick “Religious buildings in Zamora, 11th-13th Centuries: building processes, forms and functions” Deadline 31/03/2018

The construction of churches or church buildings is obviously as old as the dominance of Christianity in Western societies. The petrification of ecclesiastical wealth, however, implied a more recognisable and enduring presence for this institution throughout the medieval landscape, both urban and rural. The building of churches, and to a lesser extent monasteries, was also promoted by the laity. These were initiatives and investments that were partly religious in origin, in so far as they were ways to ensure the eternal salvation of the founders or of the community involved. The proliferation of masonry-built churches may also raise the question of other objectives of the secular world. Sometimes the laity invested in churches to provide a new, or at least a stronger, more formalised and more recognizable community identity.

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Call for Papers The University of Birmingham EMREM Postgraduate Forum 8th Annual Symposium Truth, Lies and Deception Deadline 03/03/2018

EMREM

We invite all postgraduates working on the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods to submit papers for and attend our 8th Annual Symposium at the University of Birmingham on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th May 2018.

This interdisciplinary 2-day event welcomes papers and/or images of research from History, Literature, Archaeology, Art-History and Music.

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