This is a call for presenters in a panel at the Association of Art Historians annual conference, which is taking place at the University of East Anglia, Norwich 9th – 11th April 2015.
Artists, Avarice and Ambition in Europe, 1300 -1600
In Trecento Italy Giotto di Bondone was working on major commissions in Florence whilst buying property and conducting complex business transactions in the rural Mugello. Michelangelo, as recently published documents show, also accumulated wealth from a variety of sources in addition to his art. In sixteenth century Northern Europe Dürer exemplified the spirit of commercial enterprise by employing agents to sell his engravings and find new markets for his works all over the Netherlands. Less commonly women artists made economic contributions to family workshops. The commercial astuteness of the engraver and printmaker Diana Scultori, who held a Papal Privilege allowing her to sign and market her work, is a notable example. Artists were ambitious and money mattered. The economic interaction between artists, patrons, institutions and ideologies in Europe 1300 -1600 is the focus of ongoing critical study, including recent exhibitions exploring the influence of bankers, merchants and international trade on art and artists. This session encourages a multidisciplinary approach to debate the idea of the artist as businessman or woman. It will consider the ways in which artists were developing and exploiting networks of wealthy patrons and producing works which engaged with changing and often controversial economic discourse.
Papers will be welcomed which explore any of these issues. There is also the chance the proceedingss will be published.
Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words, and should be sent to the session organizers along with a short CV (max 2 pages) and a biographical note and sent by November 10th 2014.
A fire in the church of Sint-Jan de Doper in Anzegem, Belgian has caused serious damage to the building, some of which is around 800 years old. The cause of the blaze, which broke out on the 16th October was apparently a faulty heating system.
Although many reports have been that the church has been “completely destroyed”, it is clear that this is not the case. The town council are looking for options for its restoration as a centre with more diverse community functions.
Indeed, you can see from the videos that the blaze has completely burnt off the roofs of the building, but the outer aisle walls and arcades are still standing. The biggest concern will be consoldating the most significant part of the building, the twelfth-century Romanesque crossing tower.
Helicopter footage which shows the moment the spire collapses (no audio)
Footage from after the blaze which shows the extent of the damage
Room 3.20, Arts 2 Building
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road
London
E1 4NS
Saturday, 18 October 2014 from 10:00 to 18:30 (BST)
Schedule:
10.00-10.30: Registration, tea and coffee
10.30-10.45: Welcome and Introduction from Organisers
10.45-12.15: Working with Museums: Cataloguing and Curating
Adrian Armstrong, Centenary Professor of French (QMUL)
Medieval Multiculturalism and Mancunian Monuments: Reviewing the Evolution of
a Library Exhibition
Kate Lowe, Professor of Renaissance History and Culture (QMUL)
Shaking hands with the devil: Reflections on encounters with four museums and
collections
12.15-1.15: Lunch
1.15-2.45: Performative Engagement: Radio, TV and Theatre
Miri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History (QMUL)
The Middle ages: a Challenge to the Friendly Historian
Will Tosh, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Shakespeare’s Globe
tbc
Respondent: Tamara Atkin, Senior Lecturer in Renaissance Drama and Literature
(QMUL)
2.45-3.15: Coffee break
3.15-5.00: The Media Perspective: Collaborating and Working with Academics
Clare Whistler, Leverhulme Artist in Residence at QMUL 2013/14
Vessels of Tears
Michael Caines, English Literature and Digital Editor, Times Literary Supplement
tbc
Mukti Jain Campion, independent radio producer and founder of Culture Wise
What’s the Story?
The Transept and its Upper Levels in the High Medieval Church: Towards a New Functional Approach (Architecture, Decor, Liturgy and Sound)
International and Interdisciplinary Conference – Lausanne, 20th-21st of April 2015
Abstract
This conference is jointly organized by the Catholic University of Angers (Faculty of Humanities) and the University of Lausanne (Department of History of Art). It aims to analyse in greater detail the spaces of the transept and to explore their relation(s) with the choir/heart of the church. This two-day international and interdisciplinary symposium will work towards bringing together and assessing the results, often dispersed, of past and present research, building upon debates involving specialists from multiple backgrounds and finishing with a round table which will propose a summary of the papers and explore further insights into new research directions.
Project
The studies of Carol Heitz on Carolingian westworks have shown that this specific space, the upper level of which communicates with the nave through large tribunes, used to have a liturgical function, generally associated with the feast of Easter. Similarily, from the second quarter of the 10th Century onwards, the Gorze and Fleury reform initiated liturgical innovations necessitating the reconstruction or transformation of churches, which entailed rearranging or enlarging chapels at the eastern or western part of the building.
The fact that, in the reformed churches, these renovated liturgical spaces opened on the nave or the choir from a tribune, allowed for some categories of celebrations – the nature of which is not always clearly identified – to provide the occasion for part of the choir monks to stand in these upper levels and respond by their singing to the rest of the community gathered lower down. This architectural typology was shared by many monastic churches as well as cathedral churches in the wake of the reform, without being ubiquitous: for example, clunisian churches usually lacked tribunes overlooking the transept.
As to the upper levels of the transept, their function is not necessarily cultual (e.g. Cuxà), and if they sometimes communicate with the rest of the church (e.g. Saint-Chef), they are also likely to remain separate (Aoste). In some cases, where these upper levels are especially elaborate and open (e.g. Bayeux), the possibility of their use by the laity for a show of power cannot be discarded.
Throughout the High Middle Ages, the development of the East end of churches – enlarged choir with long transepts and a flowering of lateral chapels, sometimes with matching upper level – coincides with the partial or total abandonment of the West end. Occasionally, as at Saint-Remi of Reims or at the cathedral of Rouen, the East even assumes some of the functions devolved to the West. This reflects a process of hyper-sacralisation of the East end of the church, which was already noticeable in the 10th Century but was encouraged to grow under the Gregorian Reform, because it allowed a unification of the ecclesial space, a valorisation of the eucharistic celebration by concentrating the liturgy around the main altar, as well as a more distinct spatial separation of clergy and laity. A rood screen separates the celebrants in the choir from the assembly in the nave. A barrier or differences in levels may prolong, in the transepts, the limit of the area reserved for the clergy.
In a similar way to the architecture and the liturgy, the painted and/or sculpted decoration of the church reinforces the axial West-East dynamic across the ecclesiastical building, and serves to showcase the most sacred parts of the building: the richly decorated East frequently offers a contrast to the nakedness of the nave. At the same time, the decorative elements of the transept may function as the revealing agent for other paths of circulation, for example a transversal pathway uniting both ends of the transept (e.g. Château-Gontier).
In this spirit, we would like to interrogate the manner in which the transept and its upper levels contribute to the valorisation of the sanctuary, valorisation which can be made apparent by the visual effects of the decor as well as by the sound of singing from the upper levels, and which is embodied in the architecture of the tribunes for all to see.
Frame and directions of research
Papers should deal with the origins of this phenomenon in the Carolingian period and its development throughout the High Middle Ages. No geographical limits have been set for this international conference: if upper levels in the transept appear more frequently in some areas than in others, their absence in some contexts or locations may also be a source of interest.
In order to ensure an interdisciplinary dimension to this conference, we appeal to every domain of Medieval studies: historians, art historians, specialists of liturgy, construction specialists, archæologists, musicologists, etc., are invited to contribute to a better understanding of the function of tribunes, and of the modalities of interaction between central liturgical spaces, peripherical spaces and the ecclesial building.
Papers may deal with this central topic following a wide range of approaches, which may belong, but are not limited, to the following:
Typology of building rearrangements in the space of the transept
Place of the laity and the clergy in the use of the transept and its upper levels
Customary liturgy and ceremonies associated with these spaces
Consequences of reform(s) and of their specific liturgy on the architecture of churches
Role of the decor in revealing the function of these spaces
Decor, ritual and sound as performative factors involved in the defining of relations between spaces within the church on the one hand, and of relations between the coexisting communities, the observing and the observed, on the other hand.
Practical details for paper proposal
Proposals are for 20-minute papers and should not exceed 300 words, either in French or English. They will be accompanied by a short curriculum vitæ. Both documents should be sent jointly to barbara.franze@unil.ch and nathalie.leluel@uco.frbefore the 15th of December 2014.
The conference will take place at the University of Lausanne on Monday, the 20th of April and Tuesday, the 21st of April 2015.
Results of the CFP will be announced on the 19th of January 2015 at the latest.
Scientific committee Barbara Franzé, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
Nathalie Le Luel, Catholic University of Angers (France)
When: Friday, October 31, 2014 from 930am until 445pm
Where: Sackler Room B, British Museum
Programme: There are six presentations of thirty minutes, each followed by a ten minute questions period, plus an introduction and a handling session of related objects by Museum Curator Chris Entwistle. The presenters are:
Professor Liz James (University of Sussex) – Introduction and Conclusion
Dr. Nadine Schibille (University of Sussex) – Liturgy in Space
Dr. Mary Cunningham (University of Nottingham) – Liturgical celebration of Mary, the Mother of God, in the Middle Byzantine period: the interaction between Church hymnography and devotional art
Arik Avdokhin (PhD Candidate, King’s College London) – Public Involvement in Early Byzantine (Para)Liturgical Practices: Participation in Hymns and Prayers in Churches and Elsewhere
Dr. Heather Hunter-Crawley (University of Bristol) – Mirroring Heaven – The Experience of Eucharistic Silverware in Early Byzantium
Dr. Cecily Hennessy (Christie’s Education) – Monumental decoration in relation to the liturgy
Professor Robin Cormack (University of Cambridge) – The 14th century icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy and the broader question of how to discover the use of icons in the liturgy
Fees and Reservations: Reservations are essential because there is limited space. The fee is £15 for SPBS members and £20 for all others. Reservations can be made on the following link: http://www.byzantium.ac.uk/events/spbs-study-day.html
Call for Papers: Movement in Medieval Art and Architecture 20th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Student Colloquium London, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 7 February 2015
Pilgrimage, wars and trade are key components of the Middle Ages and all embody movement. This colloquium aims at exploring the importance of movement in the creative processes of medieval art and architecture. Participants are invited to interpret the notion of movement especially in relation to itinerant artists and workshops, the circulation of artworks and the transmission of ideas. Movement will be questioned as a transformative and creative agent in art, in theory as well as in practice. This theme can be expanded to include both local and trans-cultural outcomes of exchanges, ranging from adoption to compromise and rejection. All these encounters show that movement was essential in the creation of art and architecture, whether in Europe, in the Byzantine Empire or beyond, coinciding with the emergence of new artistic trends and reciprocal influences.
Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:
• the circulation of artifacts via diplomatic relations and trade routes
• the spread of new technologies
• the diffusion of iconographical themes • thedissemination of architectonic vocabulary • the role played by drawings in the transmission of art and architecture
The Medieval Colloquium offers the opportunity for Research Students at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and promote their research. Unfortunately funding for speakers is not available therefore students from outside London are encouraged to apply to their institutions for subsidies to attend the colloquium.
Call for Papers: Sister Act: Female Monasticism and the Arts across Europe ca. 1250 –1550 London, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 13 – 14 March 2015 Deadline: 10 December 2014 UPDATE: PROGRAMME NOW PUBLISHED
Keynote speaker: Professor Dr. Carola Jäggi, University of Zürich (CH)
This conference seeks to compare, contrast and juxtapose scholarly approaches to the art of Medieval and Renaissance religious women that have emerged in recent decades. Seeking to initiate a broader conversation, which is long overdue, we invite papers that examine female monastic art in terms of patronage, space, devotional practice, spiritual identity or material history, spanning all of Europe and bridging the gap between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Over the last three decades, within a broader scholarly effort to recover women’s history, art historians have explored the role of gender in the form, function and patronage of monastic art and architecture. It has become evident that the institutionalisation of late medieval and renaissance religious women developed under very different conditions from that of their male counterparts. Monastic foundations for women are repeatedly revealed as having been idiosyncratic, rarely adhering to a set of norms. There are many examples of stable and flourishing institutions performing functions of dynastic memoria for wealthy, aristocratic or royal families. Equally, female convents could be fluid and metamorphic during the course of their history: many instances demonstrate shifting ecclesiastical allegiances, mutable types of monastic life, movement between patrons, and even communities changing order. Such varied historical circumstances shaped the architecture for female religious communities, ranging from large complexes erected in the most fashionable styles of their time, to basic dwellings within converted secular buildings. Diversity can also be observed in the commissioning and use of works of art, from second-hand or adapted paintings to specially commissioned, lavish monuments and vast cycles of wall paintings. In short, artworks in the female religious context escape generalisation.
Idiosyncrasies are found not only when investigating the female monastic complex and its art, but also in the scholarship itself, which has primarily focused on chronologically and geographically specific material, often without engaging in dialogue with adjacent fields.
North of the Alps, scholars tend to gravitate towards the rich Cistercian and Dominican material, and to concentrate on the interplay between visual culture and devotional practice. The 2005 exhibition ‘Krone und Schleier: Kunst aus mittelalterlichen Frauenklöstern’, and the accompanying conference, bore witness to the vibrant wealth of artworks preserved in the German-speaking areas of Europe, and should foster scholarly exchange with other European regions.
On the Italian peninsula, the patchy archival record and damage to physical convent spaces has led to a proliferation of case studies. Renaissance and early modern scholarship has also focused on biographies of individual nuns or specific convent chronicles as means of investigating nunneries within the urban fabric of the Italian city-states from a socio-economic perspective.
Meanwhile, the abundance of surviving artistic material in Spain, Portugal, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe has recently started to receive attention. The art of women who lived in a semi-religious context, such as tertiaries, widows, anchoresses and beguines, has also been brought to the fore. This abundance of recent work now invites comparison and wider interpretation.
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers exploring material across the stated time span, in all artistic media and throughout Europe, that deal with either case studies or broader methodological questions. Papers, which take a comparative approach, breaking the traditional regional or chronological boundaries, are particularly welcome. We intend to arrange the papers into panels that present contrasting approaches and/or differing time periods or places, to stimulate comparative discussion.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
– The topography of female religious settlements (e.g. within a city or a region)
– Female monastic architectural space (social aspects, interaction, hierarchies etc.)
– The commemorative function of art and architecture in female religious communities
– The relationship between lay patrons and female religious communities
– Artworks and liturgical/devotional practice
– Religious women as artistic practitioners
– Second-hand or relocated artworks
– The importance of written sources (chronicles, regulations, etc.) for understanding the artistic choices of religious women
– Comparisons between the art of female and male communities
– Artworks for female tertiaries and other semi-monastic groups, comparisons with the art of their second order counterparts
– Patronage networks between individual patrons and/or female religious communities
– Representing collective and individual identity
– The influence of female monastic art beyond the nunnery
Unfortunately, we cannot offer travel subsidies. Applicants from outside London are therefore encouraged to apply to other funding bodies for travel bursaries to attend the conference.
Organised by Laura Llewellyn and Michaela Zöschg (The Courtauld Institute of Art)
German Historical Institute 1607 New Hampshire Ave NW Washington DC 20009-2562
The German Historical Institutes in London and Washington, D.C., are pleased to announce the ninth Medieval History Seminar, to be held in Washington, D.C., from October 15 to 17, 2015. The seminar is designed to bring together Ph.D. candidates and recent Ph.D. recipients (2013-2014) in medieval history from American, British and German universities for three days of scholarly discussion and collaboration.
The Medieval History Seminar welcomes proposals from all areas of medieval history. Participation is not limited to historians working on German history or German-speaking regions of Europe. Nor is a particular epoch or methodological approach preferred. Applications from neighbouring disciplines are welcome if the projects have a distinct historical focus.
The seminar is bi-lingual, and papers and discussions will be conducted both in German and English. Participants must have a good reading and aural comprehension of both languages.
The GHI will cover the travel and lodging expenses of the participants.
Applications may be submitted in German or English and should include:
* a curriculum vitae (including institutional affiliation, address and e-mail);
* a description of the proposed paper (4-5 pages, double-spaced);
* one letter of recommendation.
VIII Jornadas Complutenses de Arte Medieval. Alfonso VIII and Eleanor of England, Artistic Confluences Around 1200.
Department of History of Art I (Medieval) – Universidad Complutense de Madrid
12-14 November 2014
Salón de Actos. Facultad de Geografía e Historia
The Department of History of Art I (Medieval) of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid organises the 7th edition of its International Seminar – Jornadas Complutenses de Arte Medieval on November 12th, 13th and 14th 2014, under the title “Alfonso VIII and Eleanor of England, Artistic Confluences Around 1200”. The final programme has been published and registration is now open:
General registration fees: 50€
Students, UCM graduates (proof of status required): 30€
Memebers of CEHA (Comité Español de Historia del Arte): 50% discount
Deadline for registration: 31st October 2014
PROGRAMME:
Wednesday 12th November. 15:30-20:40 Session I: Alfonso VIII, culture and image of a Kingdom
Thursday 13th November. 9:00-13:35 Session II: Eleanor of England, women’s artistic patronage and image of a Kingdom
16:00-20:10
Session III: Artists, workshops and exchanges
Friday 14th November. 9:00-13:05 Session IV: Peninsular architecture around 1200, changes and international connections
![v0_master[1]](https://medievalartresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/v0_master1.jpg)
![logo[1]](https://medievalartresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/logo1.jpg){kind=logo}
Medieval Art Research 