Medieval Art Research

New Publications: Romanesque Cathedrals in Mediterranean Europe

Romanesque Cathedrals in Mediterranean Europe:
Architecture, Ritual and Urban Context

Boto Varela, J. E.A. Kroesen (eds.)

Brepols Publishers

This volume explores the architecture and layout of Romanesque cathedrals in Europe, especially around the Mediterranean, paying special attention to liturgical ritual, church furnishings, iconography, and urban context.

The architecture, interior settings and urban environment of Romanesque cathedrals around the Mediterranean offer unique insights into religion and culture in southern Europe during the 10th-13th centuries. In this period, cultural and artistic interchange around the Mediterranean gave rise to the first truly European art period in Medieval Western Europe, commonly referred to as ‘Romanesque’. A crucial aspect of this integrative process was the mobility of artists, architects and patrons, as well as the capacity to adopt new formulas and integrate them into existing patterns. Some particularly creative centers exported successful models, while others became genuine melting pots. All this took shape over the substrate of Roman Antiquity, which remained in high esteem and was frequently reused.

In these studies, Romanesque cathedrals are employed as a lens with which to analyze the complexity and dynamics of the cultural landscape of southern and central Europe from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. The architecture of every cathedral is the result of a long and complicated process of morphogenesis, defined by spatial conditions and the availability of building materials. Their interior arrangements and imagery largely reflected ritual practice and the desire to express local identities. The various contributions to this volume discuss the architecture, interior, and urban setting of Romanesque cathedrals and analyze the factors which helped to shape them. In so doing, the focus is both on the influence of patrons and on more bottom-up factors, including community practices.

New Publications

Viewing Greece: Cultural and Political Agency in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean

SEJ Gerstel (ed.)

Brepols Publishers

Multidisciplinary, geographically broad, and diachronic in scope, the papers in this volume consider the cultural and political agency of Greece as part of the late antique world, the Byzantine Empire, and the early modern Mediterranean.

Deriving from conferences, workshops, and lectures that took place in conjunction with “Heaven and Earth: Art of Byzantium from Greek Collections,” an exhibition held at the National Gallery of Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, and Art Institute of Chicago from 2013 to 2015, the thirteen papers in this volume focus on the art, architecture, and topography of medieval and early modern Greece. Multidisciplinary, geographically broad, and diachronic in scope, these papers consider the cultural and political agency of Greece as part of the late antique world, the Byzantine Empire, and the early modern Mediterranean. The Greek lands—spread across island and mainland—are seen as parts of broad trade and political networks, as points of religious dynamism, and as regions that are simultaneously central and peripheral. Cities and workshops, readings of monumental painting, approaches to sacred art, views of architecture and power, and printed images of the landscape are some of the main themes treated by the authors. The volume also includes reflections on the exhibition written by curators and critics.

SHARON E. J. GERSTEL is Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. An art historian and archaeologist, her research focuses on the late Byzantine village and on the intersections of art and ritual. She is author of Beholding the Sacred Mysteries: Programs of the Byzantine Sanctuary (1999) and Rural Lives and Landscapes in Late Byzantium: Art, Archaeology and Ethnography (2015) and has edited numerous books including, most recently, Viewing the Morea: Land and People in the Late Medieval Peloponnese (Washington, DC, 2013).

CfP: Bodies in flux: Rewriting the Body in Medieval Literature, Art, and Culture 1000-1450, University of Warwick, 20th May 2017,

Deadline for abstract submission: 15th December 2016

Keynote Speakers: Dr Miranda Griffin (St Catharine’s College, Cambridge), Dr Robert Mills (UCL), Dr Debra Strickland (University of Glasgow)

What is it to have a body? And to experience change and transformation through that body?

This interdisciplinary conference asks what the transformation of the body means for the conception of bodies of different kinds: human, nonhuman, animal, material, divine, and how the representation of these changes in different media reflects on and inflects the boundaries conventionally associated with the body. We are inviting abstracts from graduate students and early career researchers from all disciplines. Topics might include, but are not limited to:

metamorphosis – boundaries between species – boundaries between materials – volatile matter – changing forms – spiritual bodies – transubstantiation – transforming saints – vulnerable bodies – death, illness, injury – medical transformations – bodily miracles – translating bodies – bodies in text and image – allegory and symbolism – transforming meaning

Please submit abstracts of 250 words to warwickbodiesinflux@gmail.com by 15^th December 2016. We look forward to hearing from you!

For more information, visit: www.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/hrc/confs/bif/

Conference: Textile Gifts in the Middle Ages (Rome, 3-5 November 2016)

Gifts of textiles and clothing appeared in diverse contexts and fulfilled various functions in pre-modern Europe. They could be offered in the course of an initiation rite and or an act of social transition, including upon investiture, marriage, or entry into a monastery. Gifts of clothing to the poor, meanwhile, were among the works of charity
thematized in the vitae of numerous medieval saints. Sumptuous textiles were sent as resplendent gifts to religious institutions or, like
patterned silk textiles from Byzantium, circulated through diplomatic gift exchanges. Gifts of clothing were also distributed within the court as compensation in kind, which supported the structuralization and hierarchization of courtly society. Textile gifts could represent the donor. Especially in the case of clothing previously worn by its donor, the physical presence of the giver might have been woven into the materiality and form of the gifted garment.

The goal of this interdisciplinary conference is to situate the diversity and polysemy of such acts of symbolic communication into the broader context of medieval gift culture. The integration of
anthropological and sociological models (Marcel Mauss, Bruno Latour) into an art historical approach allows for gifted artifacts to be taken seriously as independent entities within the giving process as a socially generative form of communication. The conference therefore
investigates the relationship between human actors and the “agency” of gifts themselves, exploring how the dynamics of reciprocity and its attendant obligations were charged both visually and materially.

For the programme, please visit <http://arthist.net/archive/13867>.

CFP: Medieval Collaborations, The Courtauld Institute of Art’s 22nd Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium (4 February 2017), deadline 25 November 2016

Saturday 4 February 2017. Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

In the earliest days of the discipline, medieval art historians were preoccupied with attempts to name and locate masters in anonymous works through formal analysis. In recent years, however, new approaches have favoured the proposal and identification of collaborative working practices. Recent investigations of collaborations like that of Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi, the illuminators of the Winchester Bible, or the creators of Opus Anglicanum reveal a more complex picture of artistic co-operation. Notions of the artist as master have been replaced with those of artists working together, from the collaborative artisan activity in eighth-century cloisters to the increasing specialisation in the twelfth-century shop. Collaborations spanned media, with the erection of stone churches requiring not just the mason’s carving but the carpenter’s scaffolding and centring. The master and apprentice paradigm has slowly been eroded with narratives of apprentices working alongside, subverting, and surpassing their so-called masters.

The Courtauld Institute’s 22nd Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium invites speakers to consider new approaches to artistic collaborations of the Middle Ages, and how conceptions of collaboration have impacted on the study of these works. Applicants are encouraged to consider a wide range of methodologies and subjects in their approach. Some possible areas might include:

Collaborators and Co-Creations: how can medieval art and architecture act as evidence of artistic collaboration? Case studies of artworks; seen and unseen collaborations between artist and patron, writer, scribe and illuminator, mason and glazier, master and apprentice, carpenter and painter; collaborations between or within religious orders, church and crown, across countries
Process and Method: how were collaborative artworks planned and carried out? Collaborative working processes and shared technologies; specialized skills and divisions of labour; contracts and documentary evidence; shop structures vs ad hoc collaborative undertakings; collaborations across media
Conflict in Collaboration: how were conflicting methods and ideas resolved? Evidence of less-than-seamless cooperation and differing conceptions; reworking by a second collaborator of the first’s work
Representation and Reception: how are collaborative projects presented and represented? Signatures, mythologies of the maker as individual, and representations of cooperative working
Intervention and Adaption: how are initial plans adapted over time? Long-term building/construction projects; later interventions to earlier artworks; ‘collaborations’ spanning time
Collaborations in Medieval Art Scholarship: how have scholars of the Middle Ages collaborated in their work? Collaborative interdisciplinary projects past and present, such as Acta Sanctorum, the Corpus Vitrearum and the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland; digital humanities and collaborations in medieval art research; historiography of collaboration

The Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium offers the opportunity for research students at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and promote and discuss their research. There is some funding available for speakers attending from outside London. If you would like to be considered for this, include a brief statement of need in your application.

Please send proposals of up to 250 words for 20 minute papers, together with a CV, to imogen.tedbury@courtauld.ac.uk and meg.bernstein@courtauld.ac.uk no later than 25 November 2016.

http://courtauld.ac.uk/event/22nd-annual-medieval-postgraduate-student-colloquium-medieval-collaborations

Seminar: The Digital Pilgrim Project 19th October 2016

Please join us at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art on the evening of the 19th October. The seminar will discuss the Digital Pilgrim Project and the art historical/museological potential of digital technologies.

http://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/whats-on/forthcoming/digital-pilgrim-project

The Digital Pilgrim Project is digitising the British Museum’s collection of medieval badges and 3D imaging a selection. The 3D scans are making these miniature objects of art publicly accessible, in some cases for the first time since their acquisition.

Presentations will be followed by discussion.

Our 3D scans can be seen here: https://sketchfab.com/britishmuseum/collections/digital-pilgrim

Conference: al-Murabitun (Granada, 19-22 October 2016)

Palace of Charles V, Alhambra (Granada, Spain), October 19 – 22, 2016

Between 19th and 22nd October 2016, in the Palace of Charles V of the Alhambra in Granada, will be held the International Seminar “al-Murabitun. Noveno centenario del esplendor de un Imperio”, in memory of Professor Henri Terrasse. During the Seminar, many scholars from France, Morocco, United States, Spain and Portugal will get together in the ancient capital of the Almoravid Empire in the Iberian Peninsula, to commemorate the moment of the Almoravids’ maximal splendor. Never before it has taken place a scientific meeting of such characteristics about the Almoravids and, for this reason, the diverse perspectives targeted by the specialists will attract everyone who wishes to know better this dynasty, which had an outstanding place in our cultural history.

For more information, program view and matriculation, please, visit the UNIA site:
http://www.unia.es/oferta-academica/congresos-jornadas-encuentros-y-otras-actividades-formativas/oferta/item/seminario-internacional-en-memoria-del-profesor-henri-terrasse-al-murabi-un-noveno-centenario-del-esplendor-de-un-imperio

CFP: 14th International Medieval Society Symposium: ‘Evil,’ Paris, June 29– July 1, 2016

Call for Papers: 14th International Medieval Society Symposium: ‘Evil,’ Paris, June 29– July 1, 2016
Deadline: November 5, 2016

For its 14th Annual Symposium, the International Medieval Society invites abstracts on the theme of Evil in the Middle Ages. The concept of evil, and the tensions it reveals about the relationship between internal and external identities, fits well into recent trends in scholarship that have focused attention on medieval bodies, boundaries, and otherness. Medieval bodies frequently blur the distinctions between moral and non-moral evil. External, monstrous appearances are often seen as testament to internal dispositions, and illnesses might be seen as a reflection of a person’s evil nature. More generally, evil may stand in for an entire, contrasting ideological viewpoint, as much as for a particular kind of behaviour, action, or being. It may appear in the world through intentional acts, as well as through accidental occurrences, through demonic intervention as much as through human weakness and sin. It may be rooted in anger, spread through violence, or thrive on ignorance, emerging from either the natural world or from mankind.

Alongside those working on bodies and monstrosity, the question of evil has also preoccupied scholars working to understand the limits of moral responsibility and the links between destiny and decision as shown in medieval literary, artistic and historical productions. The 14th Annual IMS Symposium on Evil aims to focus on the many facets of medieval evil, analysing the intersections between evil as concept and form, as well as taking into account medieval responses to evil and its potential effects.

This Symposium will thus explore (but is not limited to) three broad themes:

1) Concepts of evil: discourse on morality and moral understandings of evil; reflections on the relationship between good and evil; heresy and heretical beliefs, teachings, writings; evil and sin; evil and conscience; associations with hell, the devil; types of evil behaviour or evil thoughts; categories of evil; evil as disorder/chaos; evil as corruption; evil and mankind

2) Embodied evil/being evil/evil beings: monstrosity; the demonic; perceptions of deformity and disfigurement; evil transformations and metamorphoses; magic and the supernatural; outward expressions of evil (e.g. through clothing, material possessions); evil objects

3) Responses to evil: punishments; the purging and/or exorcism of evil; inquisition; evil speech; warnings about evil (textual, visual, musical); ways to avoid evil or to protect oneself (talismans etc.); the temptation of evil; emotional responses to evil; social exclusion as a response to evil.

Through these broad themes, we aim to encourage the participation of researchers with varying backgrounds and fields of expertise: historians, art historians, musicologists, philologists, literary specialists, and specialists in the auxiliary sciences (palaeographers, epigraphists, codicologists, numismatists). While we focus on medieval France, compelling submissions focused on other geographical areas that also fit the conference theme are welcome and encouraged. By bringing together a wide variety of papers that both survey and explore this field, the IMS Symposium intends to bring a fresh perspective to the notion of evil in medieval culture.

How to submit: Proposals of no more than 300 words (in English or French) for a 20-minute paper should be e-mailed to communications.ims.paris@gmail.com by November 5th 2016. Each should be accompanied by full contact information, a CV, and a list of the audio-visual equipment that you require.

Please be aware that the IMS-Paris submissions review process is highly competitive and is carried out on a strictly anonymous basis. The selection committee will email applicants in late-November to notify them of its decision. Titles of accepted papers will be made available on the IMS-Paris website. Authors of accepted papers will be responsible for their own travel costs and conference registration fee (35 euros, reduced for students, free for IMS-Paris members).

The IMS-Paris is an interdisciplinary, bilingual (French/English) organisation that fosters exchanges between French and foreign scholars. For the past ten years, the IMS has served as a centre for medievalists who travel to France to conduct research, work, or study. For more information about the IMS-Paris and past symposia programmes, please visit our website: www.ims-paris.org.

IMS-Paris Graduate Student Prize:

The IMS-Paris is pleased to offer one prize for the best paper proposal by a graduate student. Applications should consist of:

1) a symposium paper abstract

2) an outline of a current research project (PhD. dissertation research)

3) the names and contact information of two academic referees

The prize-winner will be selected by the board and a committee of honorary members, and will be notified upon acceptance to the Symposium. An award of 350 euros to support international travel/accommodation (within France, 150 euros) will be paid at the Symposium.

Conference: Al-Murābiṭūn: Noveno centenario del esplendor de un Imperio, Granada, October 19-22, 2016

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Conference: Al-Murābiṭūn: Noveno centenario del esplendor de un Imperio, Granada, October 19-22, 2016
Inscription deadline: October 17, 2016.

The Universidad Internacional de Andalucía and the Escuela de la Alhambra present “Al-Murābiṭūn: Noveno centenario del esplendor de un Imperio,” a colloquium/ course in honor of the memory of Prof. Henri Terrasse, to he held 19-22 October 2017 at the Palace of Carlos V in the Alhambra (Granada).

2016 is the 900th anniversary of the conquest of the Balearic islands by the Almoravids (1116), an event which corresponded to the greatest territorial expansion of their empire and started the moment of its maximum splendor. With the occupation of the Islands, the empire obtained a vast territory extending from Mauritania to Zaragoza, as since the end of the 11th century they had been gaining power over the taifas of Al-Andalus, becoming the most important empire of Western Islam during the first half of the 12th century. They were the first to unite the two sides of the Strait of Gibraltar under the same political and religious power. This fact enabled a lively social, commercial and cultural exchange between Al-Andalus and North Africa, centered around the great capitals of the Empire, especially the North African Marrakech, and the peninsular Granada.

Moreover, this year marks 45 years since the death of Professor Henri Terrasse, a great scholar of the art of Morocco and Al-Andalus. Among his works are several publications dedicated to the art and arquitecture of Al-Andalus, necessary starting points for anyone interested in pursuing research in these fields.
During this international seminar, several specialists of the Almoravides will commemorate the 900th centernary of the apogee of the greater Western Islamic empire, with a special attention to the legacy of Henri Terrasse.

PROGRAMME
1a JORNADA: miércoles 19 de octubre
10:00 a 10:15 – Presentación
10:15 a 11:15 – Conferencia inaugural.
“Henri Terrasse y su contribución historiográfi ca”
D. Rafael LÓPEZ GUZMÁN (Universidad de Granada). 11:15 a 11:30 – Pausa-café

Sesión de mañana:
MESA 1.- Origen, génesis y evolución del Imperio almorávide
11:30 a 12:30
“Camelleros saharianos: la caracterización de los almorávides en las fuentes”
D.a Helena DE FELIPE (Universidad de Alcalá).
12:30 a 13:30
“El primer urbanismo de Marrakech”
D. Abdellatif MAROU (Conservador de la Inspección de Monumentos y Sitios Históricos de Marrakech, Ministerio de Cultura del Reino de Marruecos).
13:30 a 14:30
“El nacimiento del Califato almohade y el fin de los almorávides. Introducción de un nuevo arte” D.a Dolores VILLALBA SOLA (IEM – FCSH/UNL, Lisboa).
14:30 a 17:00- Almuerzo

Sesión de tarde:
MESA 2.- El Imperio almorávide: organización económica, política y jurisdicción
17:00 a 18:00
“La evolución de la organización política y administrativa del emirato almorávide al imperio almohade”
D. Pascal BURESI (CNRS, Lyon).
18:00 a 18:30- Pausa-café
[MESA 1.- Origen, génesis y evolución del Imperio almorávide]
18:30 a 19:30
“Historia de los almorávides a través de las fuentes textuales”
D.a Ma Jesús VIGUERA MOLINS (Universidad Complutense de Madrid).
19:30 a 20:00- Debate sesión de tarde

2a JORNADA: jueves 20 de octubre
Sesión de mañana
MESA 2 (b).- El Imperio almorávide: organización económica, política y jurisdicción 10:00 a 11:00
“Cadíes y cadiazgo andalusí en época almorávide”
D. Rachid EL HOUR (Universidad de Salamanca).
11:00 a 12:00
“La economía de los almorávides saharianos en el Sur de al-Andalus según sus indicios” D. Eduardo ESCARTÍN GONZÁLEZ (Universidad de Sevilla).
12:00 a 12:30 – Pausa-café
MESA 3.- Trabajos arqueológicos, conservación y difusión de la cultura material almorávide
12:30 a 13:30
“El registro arqueológico almorávide en Šarq al-Andalus: arquitectura y producciones cerámicas”
D. Pedro JIMÉNEZ CASTILLO (Escuela de Estudios Árabes – CSIC, Granada) y Manuel PÉREZ ASENSIO (Arqueólogo).
13:30 a 14:00 Debate sesión de mañana 14:00 a 17:00 – Almuerzo

Sesión de tarde
17:00 a 17:30
“La colección almorávide del Museo de la Alhambra: inventario y catálogo”
D.a Paula SÁNCHEZ GÓMEZ (Arqueóloga – Arquemus Medievalia S. L.) y Eva MORENO LEÓN (Arqueóloga – Arquemus Medievalia S. L.).
17:30 a 18:30
Visita a la colección del Museo de la Alhambra
D.a Paula SÁNCHEZ GÓMEZ (Arqueóloga – Arquemus Medievalia S. L.) y Eva MORENO LEÓN (Arqueóloga – Arquemus Medievalia S. L.).
18:30 a 19:00- Pausa-café
19:00 a 20:00
“Otra forma de enseñar la Historia”
D. Juan CASTILLA BRAZALES (Escuela de Estudios Árabes – CSIC, Granada).

3a JORNADA: viernes 21 de octubre
Sesión de mañana
MESA 4.- El arte y la cultura en la época almorávide: arquitectura, artes suntuarias y pensamiento estético
10:00 a 11:00
“La estética andalusí en el siglo XII”
D. José Miguel PUERTA VÍLCHEZ (Universidad de Granada).
11:00 a 12:00
“¿Existe un arte almorávide? Contribuciones y nuevas perspectivas”
D.a María MARCOS COBALEDA (Instituto de Estudos Medievais – FCSH/UNL, Lisboa).
12:00 a 12:30 – Pausa-café
12:30 a 13:30
“El Panteón Real del monasterio cisterciense de las Huelgas de Burgos. Historiografía, arqueología artística y modelo de conservación”
D.a Concha HERRERO CARRETERO (Patrimonio Nacional).
13:30 a 14:00 Debate sesión de mañana
14:00 a 17:00 – Almuerzo

Sesión de tarde
MESA 5.- Las civilizaciones coetáneas a los almorávides
17:00 a 18:00
“Toledo en el siglo XII: de la casa al barrio”
D. Jean PASSINI (LaDéHiS – CRH – EHESS, Paris).
18:00 a 18:30 – Pausa-café
18:30 a 19:30
“Relaciones entre musulmanes, judíos y cristianos en el Mediterráneo del siglo XII”
D. Brian A. CATLOS (University of Colorado, Boulder (EEUU) / The Mediterranean Seminar). 19:30 a 20:00 Debate sesión de tarde y conclusiones nales

4a JORNADA: sábado 22 de octubre (opcional)
10:00 a 14:00
Visita al Palacio de Dar al-Horra, las murallas de la Alhacaba y el Bañuelo (personal de Huerto Alegre).

Time and place
El Seminario se celebrará en el Conjunto Monumental de la Alhambra y Generalife, en el Palacio de Carlos V, Granada.
Las clases tendrán lugar los días 19 al 22 de octubre de 2016, en horario de mañana y tarde (excepto el sábado 22 que será sólo de mañana).

How to apply:
Número de plazas y condiciones de admisión
El número de plazas es limitado, por lo que las solicitudes se atenderán por riguroso orden de matriculación.
La Universidad comunicará expresamente la matriculación del solicitante.
El seminario va dirigido fundamentalmente a alumnado universitario de los grados de Filología Árabe y Hebrea, Historia del Arte e Historia; medievalistas, arabistas y otros investigadores; guías e intérpretes; profesores de Instituto.

El plazo de matrícula finaliza el 17 de octubre de 2016.
El importe es de 8 € de apertura de expediente.
Número de horas: 25.
El pago de la apertura de expediente deberá efectuarse por transferencia bancaria libre de gastos o por ingreso a la cuenta de La Caixa, O cina Isla de la Cartuja (Sevilla) IBAN: ES78 21009166752200074348

Formalización de la matrícula
Deberá aportarse la siguiente documentación:
1- Solicitud en el impreso que facilita la Universidad Internacional de Andalucía.
2- Fotocopia del DNI.
3- Justificante de haber abonado los derechos correspondientes.

New Website: Walters Ex Libris (Walters Art Museum Manuscripts)

New Website: Walters Ex Libris (Walters Art Museum Manuscripts) online at manuscripts.thewalters.org.

Featuring a user-friendly design, the site provides visitors with intuitive search options, including the ability to refine their search by date, geography, subject, culture, and more. It also gives users a chance to coordinate their own online collections by gathering, saving and sharing their favorite masterpieces.
Images include covers and flyleaves, and provided under a Creative Commons 3.0 license that allows visitors to download publication-quality pictures for free.

To date, the Walters has digitized 45 percent of its manuscripts collection.

The manuscripts site, an ongoing project, joins the museum’s growing network of online resources, including its general website, thewalters.org, and its online collection, art.thewalters.org.