Call for applications: Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders ‘Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture’, 23 June – 3 July 2024 (deadline 10 March 2024)

Annually, the Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders brings a select group of 18 highly qualified young researchers to Flanders. They are offered an intensive 11-day programme of lectures, discussions, and visits related to a specific art historical period of Flemish art. The Summer Course provides the participants with a clear insight into the Flemish art collections from the period at hand, as well as into the current state of research on the topic.

The 8th edition of the Summer Course will focus on ‘Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture’. It will be held from 23 June until 3 July 2024. Excursions will be made to Leuven, Antwerp, Brussels, Bruges, Mechelen, Breda, Rotterdam, Maastricht, Liège, Aachen, Geel, Zuurbemde, Zoutleeuw. The language of the Summer Course is English.

Who can apply?
Participants have a master’s degree or are PhD student, junior curator or restorer with a focus on medieval and/or renaissance sculpture. The master’s degree was earned maximum 10 years ago.

Participation fee
The participation fee of the Summer Course is fixed at €1302 (including VAT) per person. The fee includes the full 11-day programme, 10 overnight hotel stays in a single-occupancy room, all transportation within the programme, all entry tickets, two receptions, five lunches and five dinners. Not included in the participation fee is the transport to and from Belgium.

How to apply? 
All applicants should send a resume, a letter of motivation and a letter of recommendation from a faculty member or a museum professional to an.seurinck@meemoo.be.

Deadline for applications: 10 March 2024, 5 p.m. (Central European Time). 

More information

Please see the call for applications for a preliminary program, as well as information on participation fees and available grant programs.
Find out more information here.

Partners 
The Summer Course for the Study of the Arts in Flanders is a joint initiative of: M Leuven, KMSKA, MSK Gent, Musea Brugge, Mu.ZEE, Ghent University, KU Leuven, Rubenshuis/Rubenianum, Flemish Art Collection, meemoo.

Structural content partners for this edition are: Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA), Royal Museums of Art and History Brussels.

This edition is coordinated by: Flemish Art Collection, meemoo and M Leuven.

Important note: Please note that this is an intensive and physically strenuous course.

New Publication: ‘Medieval Mausoleums, Monuments, and Manuscripts: French Royal Women’s Patronage from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Centuries’ by Christene d’Anca

This volume is an exploration of the artistic cultural legacy of some of the most renowned medieval royal women, demonstrating their dedication to remain relevant for all time.

Medieval Mausoleums, Monuments, and Manuscripts: Royal Women’s Patronage from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Centuries explores the manuscripts, monuments, and other memorabilia associated with the artistic patronage of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204), her daughters, Marie de Champagne (1145-98) and Matilda of Saxony (1156-98), as well as works generated by three queens of France, Marie de Brabant (1254-1322), Jeanne d’Évreux (1310-71), and Blanche de Navarre (1330-98). Through this study the shift in women’s artistic patronage over the centuries may be brought to light, as well as its evolution, evincing how each generation built upon the previous one.

Further, despite the assorted shapes these women’s efforts embodied, ranging from manuscripts to stained glass windows, from funerary plaques, paintings, jewels and linens to monuments, mausoleums and endowments of institutions, including a variety of other forms, these women were notably unified in that their greatest output tellingly occurred during precarious points in their lives that threatened their positions, such as the potential political turmoil associated with the deaths of husbands or children. At these times their participation in acts of patronage solidified their places at court, in society, and within cultural memory while doubling as assertions of their political power and lineage. Thus, testaments, manuscript books, monuments, and memorials were not only a declaration or signs of one’s possessions, but also sites and documents that continued the politicking of the deceased.

Christene d’Anca is a lecturer at California Lutheran University, as well as at her alma mater, the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she obtained her PhD in Comparative Literature with an emphasis in Medieval Studies.

Find out more about the book here.

SAHGB Annual Lecture: ‘Architecture and Affect in the Middle Ages’ with Professor Paul Binski, Thursday 14 March 2024, 18:30-20:20 (GMT)

Much has been said in recent years about the emotional power of medieval religious art and its capacity to move audiences: think of the Pietà, the Crucifixion, the Virgin and Child.

But why has this interest not included the power of the buildings that sheltered and framed that art? There is no shortage of modern beliefs about the emotional power of architecture. The great religious structures of the Romanesque and Gothic eras, along with their counterparts in the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, are for many among the most self- evidently moving creations of their, or any, age. ‘Like a Bach fugue, a Gothic cathedral demands all our emotional and intellectual powers’, said Nikolaus Pevsner rather dauntingly in his widely-read An Outline of European Architecture. Yet as objects of historical enquiry into the emotional power of architecture, such structures are neglected to a striking extent.

Our speaker, Professor Paul Binski, promises an evening that will sharpen the focus on this neglected area, with skilled reflection and eloquence. Of his lecture, he gives a taste of what we can expect:

“My aim in delving into this relationship is not to promote the rights and wrongs of particular emotional responses to buildings, or to pretend that a study of such responses exhausts our critical understanding of architecture. It is simply to propose a way of exploring the capacity that built structures had to move their beholders, and particularly the way that those experiences were communicated by what those people actually said.”

This will be a hybrid event. We warmly invite you to register for a place in person or as part of a remote audience. Please note that the lecture will be recorded and may be shared with SAHGB members.

There will be a reception after the lecture for those who join us at Church House, a historic Westminster site newly emerging from refurbishment following an extensive project. This provides an opportunity to meet the speaker and other guests over a drink before concluding the evening.

Remote Zoom places will be bookable until 3pm on the day of the event, but all should have registered in advance, as we will not be able to sell tickets on the door. The Annual Lecture is often one of the key annual events so we recommend booking early if you can.

SPEAKER’S BIOGRAPHY

Paul Binski is Emeritus Professor of the History of Medieval Art at Cambridge University. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Corresponding Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, and was Slade Professor, Oxford University, 2006-7. His publications include Westminster Abbey and the Plantagenets (1995), Becket’s Crown. Art and Imagination in Gothic England 1170-1300 (2004), Gothic Wonder: Art, Artifice and the Decorated Style 1290-1350 (2014) and most recently Gothic Sculpture (2019). He now writes widely on general issues of aesthetics, rhetoric and the visual arts in the Middle Ages.

Registration link for a ticket.

Conference: ‘Authority and Identity in the Middle Ages’, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Vernon Square Campus, Friday 15 Mar 2024 (10-16:30 GMT)

Use this link to find out more information and to book tickets.

Studies of medieval art have often focused on works of art featuring, or patronised by, those in positions of authority. More recently scholars have moved towards a wider understanding of the ways in which works of art established a sense of authority and impacted the identity of the communities who viewed and used them. However, concepts of ‘authority’ and ‘identity’, and their complex interrelationship, are rarely interrogated in a holistic way.

The two concepts are often inextricably linked. Identities were shaped by those in positions of authority; images endowed with ‘authority’ could influence how those interacting with them self- identified; patrons claimed authority through images, often forging their public identity as charitable, pious figures. But what does it mean to claim authority in the Middle Ages? And what exactly did it mean to have an identity? Even today, these concepts are complex and multi-faceted – most notably one self-identification can differ dramatically from that imposed by others.

In this colloquium, we want to address these topics afresh, exploring how art and material culture reflect and produce concepts of identity and authority. We will also consider how alternative perspectives could reinforce or subvert ideas of an authoritative voice or image.

The colloquium begins at 10am at The Courtauld Institute of Art in Vernon Square.

Conference Programme

Session 1 – Power of Popes and the Shaping of Monastic Identity (chaired by Sam Truman, Courtauld PhD student)

Emma Iadanza, Courtauld PhD student, ‘A New Reconstruction of Leo X’s Liturgical Manuscripts’.
Vittoria Magnoler, PhD student, University of Genoa, ‘Stating the Authority of Aquinas. The Triumph by Bonaiuti as an Identity Manifesto of the Dominicans of Santa Maria Novella’.
Blanche Lagrange, PhD Student, University of Poitiers (CESCM), ‘The reform at Saint-Bertin during the 10th century: new institutional authority and identity in Boulogne-sur-Mer, BM, MS. 107’.

12.15 – 13.15: Break

Session 2 – Religion and Shaping of Individual Identity (chaired by Sophia Dumoulin, Courtauld PhD student)

Sophia Adams, Courtauld PhD student, ‘“Þat tyme þis schrowyll I dyd wryte”: Canon Percival of Coverham’s Prayer Roll, Morgan Library and Museum, Glazier MS 39’.
Natalia Muñoz-Rojas, Courtauld PhD candidate, ‘ “We first settlers”: The altarpieces of San Bartolomé and Virgen de la Antigua in the Parish Church of San José in Granada’.
Lucy Splarn, PhD student in the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent, ‘The identity of pilgrims through the art of souvenirs’.

14.45 – 15.15: Break

Session 3 – Church Architecture and Shaping of Community Identity (chaired by Helen Dejean)

Florence Eccleston, Courtauld PhD student, ‘Moral and Political Identity in Late Medieval English Wall Paintings of Sin’.
Klaudia Sniezek, PhD student, Jagiellonian University in Cracow, ‘Unveiling Identities in Stone: Burial in the Portico of Czerwinsk Abbey’.
Isabelle Chisholm, MPhil student, University of Cambridge, ‘The “Afterlife” of The Rajhrad Dormition of the Virgin (1375-1380): defining Czech Nationaism Across Transcultural Impulses’.

16.45: Drinks Reception

Organised by Courtauld PhD students Jane Stewart, Laura Feigen, Irakli Tezelashvili and Florence Eccleston.

Careers for Medievalists? British Archaeological Association and The Courtauld Institute of Art, 16 March 2024, 10am-5:30pm

Sponsored by the British Archaeological Association, this event aims to demonstrate the range of career options available to medievalists, especially those studying in Art History and adjacent disciplines such as History, Archaeology and Heritage Studies. Recent graduates and those in recruitment positions will offer tips and advice on a range of careers, including:

Heritage and Conservation
Curating and the art market
Tour guiding and freelancing
Universities
Archives and libraries
Publishing and editing

Tickets cost £12, which covers the lunch, tea/coffee and cake provided to all attending. Talks will also be recorded and posted online after the event.

In recognition of the need to diversify the field of medieval studies, the British Archaeological Association can offer a limited number of bursaries to subsidize ticket and travel costs. For further details follow this link.

The event will run from 10-5.30pm on Saturday 16th March, and follows The Courtauld’s Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium on Friday 15th March. It will be held in the lecture theatre at The Courtauld’s Vernon Square campus in London, a 10-minute walk from Kings Cross Station.

Book your tickets here.

CFP: ‘Immured Relics – Display, Signs and Memory’, deadline 18 March 2024

Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome
28–29 November 2024

This workshop is to explore the relation between relics and architecture. First and foremost, we are interested in cases of relics physically built into the architectural fabric of churches and chapels, such as columns whose capitals have been equipped with relics, triumphal arches or the apse’s semi-dome with relic depositories, “secret chambers” or even foundations and walls fortified by holy material. In order to capture the variety of the phenomenon we decided to exclude the “standard case” of relics in direct relation to the Christian altar, mandatory since the 8th/9th century, as well as relics kept in sacristies or treasury chambers in which all the relics and reliquaries owned by a given church are kept. We are interested in the mise-en-scène of specific relics in a fixed and architectonically defined surrounding. Since no systematic overview documenting this phenomenon is available, we aim at establishing a taxonomy of immured relics, in order to ask, in a next step, why these and not other places in the sacred space where chosen to house a relic.

Another important aspect we would like to address is the question of presence, visibility and signalization or indication of immured relics. The act of immuring can be considered both a way of incorporating relics permanently into the architectural fabric as well as hiding and securing relics from theft. In which cases was such presence signaled? Is there a shift in the value of the visibility of relics over their mere presence (or some exclusive knowledge of their presence) that can be explained by changing customs with regard to relic veneration? Do some typologies of immured relics occur only at certain moments in time and at certain places or are the adopted solutions rather indifferent to chronology and geography? We would like to include examples ranging from Late Antiquity to the High Middle Ages (until 1300) on a global scale. Although our personal focus is on Christian relics, we are explicitly interested in relic practices of other religious contexts, in order to investigate the respective specificities of relic deposition in architecture. We would like, as well, to consider phenomena of persistence of practices of immuring relics, both as a legacy of Antiquity and as a tenacity of the medieval tradition in the Modern Age.

We seek contributions of about 20 minutes in Italian or English. The organizing institution will cover travel and accommodation costs for the speakers.

If you are interested, please upload an abstract of the planned talk (max. 350 words) and a short CV (max. 2 pages) on the following platform by 18 March 2024: https://recruitment.biblhertz.it/position/13565973

For any further information, please write to the organizers: Maddalena Vaccaro (mavaccaro@unisa.it) and Adrian Bremenkamp (bremenkamp@biblhertz.it).

Find out more information here.

CFP: ‘Velum Templi: Veiling and hiding the sacred’, 2nd Colloquium on Art and Liturgy, deadline 1 April 2024

We are pleased to announce that we will celebrate the 2nd Colloquium on Art and Liturgy in October, entitled ‘Velum Templi: Veiling and hiding the sacred.’

It is a specialised Colloquium at the University of Cádiz (Spain). We invite the academic community to submit Spanish, English, Italian, and French abstracts before April 1, 2024.

‘Velum Templi: Veiling and hiding the sacred. 2nd Colloquium on Art and Liturgy’

The veiling or hiding of the sacred has been a constant feature of Christian worship since its late Antique origins. With powerful precedents in the temple of Jerusalem, as well as in paganism, it is a characteristic that tends to be associated with Eastern Christianity and its iconostasis. However, it was also practised by the Latin church, in whose early Christian basilica the vision of the altar of the Eucharistic sacrifice was already limited and dosed. This ritual attitude, which continued throughout the Middle Ages and even beyond, took the form of veils and curtains suspended from the pergolas or beams that divided the presbytery from the rest of the nave, or using the tetravela that ran along the rails of the baldachins that covered the altars.

Guillaume Durand, in the 13th century, describes in detail the practices that were established at that time, including the great velum templi of Gallican origin, a piece that would be kept for centuries during Lent as a living vestige of this liturgical practice. Several examples of notable antiquity have survived, as does the memory of its use.
Closely related to this, the veneration of sacred images was also marked by a desire for safe preservation, as can be inferred from the design of medieval tabernacles and winged altarpieces. Both took part in the wish to protect physically the paintings and sculptures and a desire for gradualness in the vision of the mystery of the sacred that the images themselves embody. In Spain, the extraordinary development of the altarpiece required bold, eye-catching solutions for its concealment, such as the enormous doors of some Aragonese examples or the woven twills which, when unfolded, are a sort of trompe l’oeil of the work they conceal.

Relics, sacred vessels and even the consecrated Host itself have also been the object of ritually regulated display and concealment, depending on the feasts of the liturgical year or the specific moment of the sacred ceremony taking place in the church. To satisfy this need for visual preservation, reliquary cabinets, the curtains of expositors and tabernacles or chalice veils were created during the Middle Ages, among other pieces of furniture that have also undergone formal and ornamental reformulations during the Renaissance, the Baroque and later.
Through the diachronic and transhistorical study of the phenomenon of display and concealment, this 2nd International Meeting on Art and Liturgy of the University of Cadiz aims to recover for the History of Art the memory of these singular works within the context of the cultic functionality with which they were conceived, where they also acted as vectors of ephemeral transformation in the visual appearance of the temples. For this purpose, renowned specialists such as Eduardo Carrero Santamaría, Fernando Gutiérrez Baños, Josefina Planas Bádenas, Antonio Sántos Márquez and Héctor Ruiz Soto, among others, will take part.

SESSIONS

Session I. Ritual occultation in liturgical, literary and graphic sources. Testimonies of synods and councils, rubrics in missals, references in customary books, testimonies in travel books. Graphic sources: paintings, drawings, engravings, manuscript illumination and historical photography.

Session II. Veils and altar curtains in the context of Latin Christianity (Velum templi, Velum quadragesimal, lateral curtains…) Origins, typological evolution and local particularities

Session III. The veiling of crosses, images, relics and sacred vessels. Liturgical, devotional and conservation aspects. Reliquary cabinets, display ceremonies.

Session IV. From the medieval open tabernacle to the great Baroque altarpieces. Functional principles and devotional implications.

More information can be found here: https://arteyliturgia-uca.weebly.com/

CALL FOR PAPERS

We invite the academic community to submit abstracts in Spanish, English, Italian and French consisting of a 500-700 word summary highlighting the innovative nature of the paper together with the chosen session and a brief curriculum vitae before 1 April 2024 to the following address: arteyliturgia@uca.es.

The organising committee shall acknowledge receipt of submissions and select those considered most closely aligned with the meeting objectives, responding before 15 May 2024. Following peer review, these will be published in a monograph. Texts should be sent by 15 November 2024.

SPEAKERS REGISTRATION

Speakers: 40 €
Speakers members of CEHA: 20 €

In both cases, the registration includes a copy of the book with the proceedings of the Meeting.

After acceptance, speakers will have until 15 June 2024 to pay the registration fee via bank transfer to the University of Cádiz account (Banco de Santander: IBAN ES48 0049 4870 8529 1609 2739; SWIFT: BSCHESMM).

IMPORTANT: The concept of the transfer should be ARTEYLITURGIA followed by the speaker’s SURNAME and NAME. The speaker should send a copy of the bank transfer receipt via email to arteyliturgia@uca.es

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Pablo J. Pomar Rodil (Universidad de Cádiz), Elena Escuredo (Universidad de Sevilla) y Diana Olivares Martínez (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
TECHNICAL SECRETARY
Pedro Herrera Ruiz

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Eduardo Carrero Santamaría (Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona), Fernando Gutiérrez Baños (Universidad de Valladolid), Justin Kroesen (Universidad de Bergen),
Teresa Laguna Paúl (Universidad de Sevilla), Amadeo Serra Desfilis (Universidad de Valencia), María Dolores Teijeira Pablos (Universidad de León), Fabio Massaccesi
(Universidad de Bolonia), Giovanna Valenzano (Universidad de Padua), Irma Patricia Díaz Cayeros (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Cécile Vincent-Cassy (CY Cergy Paris Université) y Adam Jasienski (Southern Methodist University).

CFP: ‘Medieval Sensorium: Medieval Sensorium: Exploring the Archaeology of the Senses’, EAA Annual Meeting, deadline 8 February 2024

EAA Annual Meeting, Rome 2024, 28-31 August 2024

Session #542: ‘Medieval Sensorium: Medieval Sensorium: Exploring the Archaeology of the Senses’

In recent decades, the exploration of sensory experiences in the Middle Ages has attracted increasing attention across diverse scientific disciplines. This session is envisioned as a dynamic platform that fosters interdisciplinary dialogues, delving into the multifaceted sensory landscape of the medieval world. The central question addresses how medieval communities perceived, understood, and harnessed their sensory reality. Therefore, this session aims to uncover the intricate interplay of senses within their spatial contexts, the portrayal of sensory experiences in visual arts, and the sensory encounters that enriched the lives of rural and urban medieval communities. It sets out to discuss a wide spectrum of sensory encounters, encompassing both interior and exterior spaces, including those of sacred and secular significance. Particular interest is placed on the methodologies employed for researching the sensory experiences of the medieval world, as well as the presentation of research outcomes. Consequently, contributions that employ cutting-edge technologies to explore and map sensory experiences within historical contexts are warmly welcomed. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach, this session promises to illuminate and broaden our understanding of the medieval sensorium and the profound role that the senses played in shaping cultural practices and landscapes of the medieval world.

Abstracts up to 300 words are accepted until February 8th 2024. More information on applying can be found here.

Workshop: Rediscovering the Cultural Heritage of Upper Svanti in Georgia, deadline 15 March 2024

Date: 26 July – 4 August 2024
Destination: Mestia, Svaneti
Deadline for applications: 15 March 2024

This workshop takes place in Upper Svaneti, the spectacular mountainous region of Western Georgia, which not only has an abundance and variety of cultural heritage, but also a unique way of life. Even today, the local population preserves various pre-Christian beliefs and rituals. In Upper Svaneti, medieval churches and residences with defense towers have been preserved in their original forms. Almost all these churches are decorated with paintings, and original treasuries are kept in most of them: medieval painted and revetted icons, crosses, ecclesiastic vessels created in local workshops or many other regions of the Christian East and the West. Exposure to this extraordinary material will provide all students of medieval art with an entirely new perspective on their field.

The ten-day workshop will enable ten PhD and MA students to visit significant monuments of cultural heritage in Upper Svaneti, to take part in discussions on-site, and to engage in various field activities.

The workshop will be held in English.

The International Cultural Workshop is organized by the Institute of Art History and Theory at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, in cooperation with the College of Arts & Sciences at Syracuse University and the Art History Department at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. The project partner is the Svaneti Museum of History and-Ethnography.

The International Cultural Workshop (RCHUS) is funded under the US Embassy Georgia Cultural Small Grants Program.

Application period:

22 January to 15 March 2024 (00:00/Georgian Time Zone: UTC + 4)
The selection results will be announced on 8 April 2024.

Eligibility:

Applicants of any nationality must currently be enrolled in an MA or PhD program in Medieval or Byzantine art history or a related field.

Documents to be submitted:

Application form with other three documents:
- Curriculum vitae (with list of publications/presentations, maximum 3 pages)
- Cover letter outlining interest in the program (maximum 300 words)
- Recommendation letter
The application must be in English.
See here for the Application form: https://forms.gle/GLAacswWY5VBHDrk7

Fees and Funding

The International Cultural Workshop (RCHUS) is free of charge: will cover travel from Tbilisi to Mestia, field trips, hotel accommodation and meals in Upper Svaneti.

The workshop participants must cover their own international flights to and from Georgia, and hotel accommodation in Tbilisi. However, there are limited funds for participating students in the project budget for partial covering the international transportation and accommodation in Tbilisi. Please clarify your need for funding on your Application form.

For further information, please contact: svaneti.workshop@gmail.com

New Resource: BASIRA (Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art)

Announcing BASIRA (Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art), a new digital resource for book history

Following its official launch at the 16th annual Lawrence J. Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age, the Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies is pleased to introduce the scholarly community to BASIRA (Books as Symbols in Renaissance Art), a new, open-access online database of representations of books and other textual documents in the figurative arts between approximately 1300 and 1600 CE, the period encompassing the advent of print culture in Europe and its neighboring regions. Users anywhere can browse and query thousands of images of books from a constantly expanding dataset. Dozens of aspects of a book’s depiction can be searched, including details of its binding, bookmarks, contents, and position. In addition, users may search for the particulars of who or what is interacting with the book, and how that action is taking place.
Over time, we plan to expand the chronological and geographic reach of this resource, making it a central hub for historic depictions of the book. As a project, BASIRA aims to foster connections between scholars, curators, conservators, and all other persons interested in book history and the visual arts. We encourage you to explore the data base for research and teaching, propose new artworks for inclusion through our online portal, and contact us with any questions or remarks.

Nicholas Herman and Barbara Williams Ellertson, co-directors, BASIRA Project

Enter the database: https://basira.library.upenn.edu