Medieval Art Research

Call for papers: Exhibiting the Renaissance

Exhibiting art objects has certainly increased over the past decades. There are more and more large scale exhibitions, some of which able to attract masses of people. What is the driving force behind this multitude of exhibitions? Does Renaissance, once a classical topic, still play a significant role? In order to understand the outreach of the Renaissance in public view, we would like to have insides on how museums are dealing with their Renaissance departments. A museum is seldom build of objects just of one single period, but collections and their curators are competing over permanent exhibition space and temporary exhibitions.

We would like to invite papers with reflections on the value of
Renaissance objects in the perception of museum strategies, competing
collections, possibilities of exhibition, etc. The value and perception
of the collection might vary because the museum strategy values the
Renaissance highly, because the curator is a successful promoter,
because the civic surroundings are especially open to Renaissance
topics, because the permanent collection already contains widely known
Renaissance objects, or because the exhibition projects focus on topics
which attract a mass of people.

A thematic issue on “Exhibiting the Renaissance” is projected with the
open access online journal Kunsttexte (www.kunsttexte.de) for the first
half of 2015. We invite papers (in German, English, French, Italian,
Spanish) for a deadline in October 2014. Please feel free to contact
the editors of the section Renaissance with any questions.

Send your proposals to both editors of Kunsttexte (Sektion Renaissance)
Angela Dressen (adressen@itatti.harvard.edu)
Susanne Gramatzki (gramatz@uni-wuppertal.de)

Deadline: 31 October 2014

Call for proposals: Moving Women, Moving Objects (300-1500), CAA 2015

Moving Women, Moving Objects (300-1500)
Call for Proposals for a Session sponsored by the International Center of Medieval Art at the College Art Association Annual Conference
February 11-14, 2015, New York City

As we examine medieval works of art like manuscripts, reliquaries, and jewels, today anchored and spotlighted in their museum vitrines, it is easy to imagine these sumptuous objects at rest in the hands of their original owners. But, in truth, they were in constant motion, and women were especially responsible for the movement of these works of art. This panel seeks to enrich the discussion of women and their relationships with their objects that, in the area of non-book arts, remains relatively unexplored. Luscious objects were gifts that traveled lesser and greater distances, some imported in brides’ nuptial coffers and many more commissioned and used to unite women separated by their politically advantageous marriages. Sisters and mothers, grandmothers and aunts, daughters and cousins, as well as friends and allies, all exchanged works of art with shared stories and iconographies. These pieces were the tokens that served as tribute, the centerpieces of rituals and ceremonies, the precious keepsakes enjoyed in intimate places, and the markers of architectural spaces often also founded or endowed by these women.
Theories of feminism, anthropology, sociology, and geography, among others, can all aid in the interpretation of the movement of works of art by women. New technologies such as GIS mapping and digital modeling enable us to visualize the international trajectories of works of art, as well as the movement and placement of them within architectural space. Proposals for this panel could include papers concerning women living between 300-1500. While proposals discussing European examples are anticipated, those analyzing any culture are encouraged. Papers might discuss women moving their objects in ritual space; the international, cross-cultural fertilization of the arts resulting from women’s gifts; the mapping of women’s identity through placement of objects; or class and women’s movement of their objects.

Please email the session chairs the attached Session Participation Proposal Submission form, a preliminary abstract of your proposal, a letter of interest, CV, and supporting materials.

Proposals due: May 9; Abstracts due: Aug. 8; Full text of papers due: Dec. 1, 2014.

Contact: Tracy Chapman Hamilton, Sweet Briar College, thamilton@sbc.edu; Mariah Proctor-Tiffany, California State University, Long Beach, mariah.proctor@csulb.edu

Publication: Speculum, Vol. 89, issue 2 (April 2014)

Speculum, published quarterly since 1926, was the first scholarly journal in North America devoted exclusively to the Middle Ages, a period ranging from 500 to 1500. It is open to contributions in all fields studying this era. Its primary emphasis is on Western Europe, but Arabic, Byzantine, Hebrew, and Slavic studies are also included. The journal publishes over a thousand pages a year of articles and book reviews, reaches an international audience, and is the most widely distributed journal of medieval studies.

– Gold Coinage and Its Use in the Post-Roman West, Rory Naismith

– “Knowledge Will Be Manifold”: Daniel 12.4 and the Idea of Intellectual Progress in the Middle Ages, J.R. Webb

– Early-Medieval Exegesis of the Song of Songs and the Maternal Language of Clerical Authority, Hannah W. Mattis

– In Praise of the Too-Clement Emperor: The Problem of Forgiveness in the Astronomer’s Vita Hludowici imperatoris, Andrew J. Romig

– Neither Bewitched nor Beguiled: Philip Augustus’s Alleged Impotence and Innocent III’s Response, Constance M. Rousseau

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=SPC

Lecture: Deserts, Rivers and Mountains: Nature and Divinity in Byzantine Pilgrimage Art, Brookline, MA

Dr. Anastasia Drandaki (Benaki Museum) considers the role of natural landscape in Byzantine pilgrimage art. A pilgrimage was born of the believer’s longing to be in a locus sanctus (holy place), to see and touch and imitate holy persons, treading in their very footsteps. Pilgrims themselves express this in their journals, describing step by step with emotion how they followed the episodes in scripture or accounts of the lives. They need to be sure that they are in exactly the right place, on the particular spot where the sacred events took place. It is as if eradicating the geographical distance might also circumvent the distance in time, bringing them as close as possible to the presence of the holy persons and their acts. Moreover, the natural formation of the holy place often plays a decisive role in texts related to shrines, and the pilgrims’ contact with the particular landscape of any given pilgrimage affects their religious experience. But is the relation between landscape and holy place reflected in any way in Byzantine pilgrimage art? Does the natural landscape of the loca sancta project in art and artefacts related to holy sites, offering a potential exception to the familiar and much debated sketchy presence of physical space in Byzantine religious scenes? This lecture will explore how the natural, physical environment of the locus sanctus is depicted and participate in the art and artefacts that completed the pilgrimage experience.

Conference: London Medieval Society ‘Postgraduates Present’ 2014

You are warmly invited to our ‘postgraduates present’ colloquium on 10 May 2014 – this is a chance to hear the latest research from PhD candidates on important and on-trend aspects of medieval culture and history. Our friendly learned society is open to academics and non-academics. The event is free for members of the Society and you may join on the day (annual membership is £20/£10 concessions).

http://www.the-lms.org/colloquia.html

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/the-london-medieval-society-2707281234

Call for papers: Latinate Nuns and Liturgical Commentary: The Graduals from Paradies bei Soest, c.1360-1425, Leuven

Professor Jeffrey H. Hamburger (Harvard University) is the holder of the 2014 LECTIO Chair. Aside his public lecture on Tuesday 27 May entitled “The Autonomy of Images: The Prayer Book of Ursula Begerin and Late Medieval Picture Books”, he will give on 28 May a Doctoral Seminar “Latinate Nuns and Liturgical Commentary: The Graduals from Paradies bei Soest, ca. 1360-1425”.

On the occasion of this seminar, a selection of early-stage scholars (PhD students and postdocs) are given the opportunity to present their research during a paper session and to discuss it with the chair holder, the scientific committee and other colleagues.
Three domains have been selected: (1) ‘Hearing as viewing, viewing as sensing’. The medieval book and manuscript as synesthetic medium; (2) ‘Nuns as artists’ revisited after the material turn; and (3) ‘Word & Image’. Methodological challenges for interdisciplinary studies.

We invite early-stage researchers to submit proposals for papers in one of the aforementioned domains. We especially welcome interdisciplinary and innovative scholarly case studies that document these topics, from fields as diverse as philosophy, history, history of art, theology and religion, musicology, manuscript studies, gender studies, and hagiography. Selected researchers are expected to give a brief 10-minutes presentation in English.

A single page description of the proposed poster and a short CV should be submitted no later than 21 April 2014 to lectio@kuleuven.be.
Scholars who want to attend the seminar without presenting a poster are also asked to express their interest before that date.

Lecture: Romanesque Sculpture: Contexts and Perceptions from Lincoln and Pavia to Moissac and Saint-Genis-des-Fontaines, Courtauld

The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland requests the pleasure of your company at its Annual Lecture on Tuesday 29th April 2014 at 5.30 p.m. at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

The lecture is divided into two parts, concerning form and content respectively. The first discusses what is special about Romanesque sculpture and how it could have arisen, with particular reference to its relationship to the buildings it adorns. This section also examines the theory that architectural sculpture was developed out of church furniture.

The section on content considers a number of examples, including capitals in the cloister at Moissac, carvings on the façade of San Michele in Pavia, and a relief on the Puerta de las Platerias at Santiago de Compostela.

Professor Eric Fernie has held the posts of Professor of Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh and Director of the Courtauld Institute of the University of London. He is a fellow of the British Academy, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Society of Antiquaries of London (of which he has been President), and the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

His books include The Architecture of the Anglo-Saxons (1983), An Architectural History of Norwich Cathedral (1993), Art History and its Methods(1995), and The Architecture of Norman England (2000). He has also published some seventy chapters in books and papers in refereed journals.

Call for participants: British Archaeological Association Study Day, Llancarfan and Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, deadline 30 April 2014

The parish churches of St Cadoc at Llancarfan and St Illtud at Llantwit Major are among the most historically significant religious sites in south-east Wales. In the pre-Conquest period, both were the sites of important ‘monastic’ communities. After the Conquest, they were held by the great Benedictine abbeys at Gloucester and Tewkesbury. The standing medieval fabric at each church holds a wealth of architectural and artistic detail bearing witness to centuries of use and renewal. During this study day we will consider some of the points of comparison and contrast between the two churches.

The day will start at Llancarfan, where St Cadog’s monastery was mentioned in the Book of Llandaff over a long period (c.650–1075). The present church was probably begun in the 12th century. The focus of our attention will be the extensive medieval wall paintings which are currently being conserved and researched by Jane Rutherfoord. Led by Jane, the morning session will offer an insight into the practical, technical and sensitive nature of wall painting conservation, including an introduction to medieval wall painting techniques and the methods used to sustain these works in situ.

The afternoon will be spent at Llantwit Major, where, according to the Life of St Samson, an important monastery (and school) was established in the early 6th century by St Illtud. The site retains a major group of inscribed and sculptured stones ranging in date from the late 8th/early 9th to the 11th century. The 12th-century and later church is complex, and requires both archaeological and art historical approaches to untangle the development of its fabric. David Robinson will guide us through some of the problems of interpreting such a complicated site and introduce techniques by which investigation and analysis can be successfully carried out.

By the end of the day we will have enjoyed, in the company of experts, a detailed study of two remarkable medieval buildings. We will have come to understand something of their pre-Conquest foundation, considered their medieval development, and studied the extent of their artistic ambition.

The cost of the day will be £20 for members. The event is free for students.

A private coach will collect participants from Cardiff mainline station in the morning and return there at the end of the day. Please bring a picnic lunch as refreshments will not be provided, although toilet facilities will be available. Full details will be sent out to participants closer to the event.

Places are limited to 20, of which 10 are reserved for students. To apply please email Helen Lunnon (h.lunnon@uea.ac.uk) by Wednesday 30 April, stating if you are a student. In the case of a greater number of applications being received a ballot will be used to allocate places. Successful candidates will be contacted by email by Friday 2 May, with a request for payment.

Conference: Sensory Perception and the Medieval World, UCL

Participants will consider the ways in which we understand and interpret written, printed, and physical materials from the early medieval period. This is enhanced by the growing availability of digital resources which enhance the potential for visual perception while reducing the opportunity to use other senses for interpretation.

At the same time, scholarship is becoming more conscious of ways in which artefacts and documents were perceived and used in the period: of how the design of objects, including books and manuscripts, controlled their reception.

Papers include discussions of the role of digital editions of texts, the impact of art, perceptions of deafness, the sensory experience of manuscripts, and the presentation and exploitation of the senses in Old English, Old Norse, and Medieval Literature.

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/calendar/articles/20140412

Conference: British Institute at Ankara – Alan Hall One Day Event & Pre-Event Dinner, London

The British Institute at Ankara warmly invites you to a one-day event being held on Saturday 11 October at King’s College London, Strand Campus. The programme provides a fascinating menu of topics for anybody who is enthusiastic and curious to discover more about Turkey past and present and will foreground the achievements of research promoted by the BIAA, which has supported pioneering and ground-breaking work in the country since 1948. The speakers are all in the forefront of research on Turkey, and their presentations will cover prehistoric archaeology, Roman village life, Ottoman art, the role of women and the contemporary political scene. There will be a musical interludes provided by a London-based Turkish group, and a drinks reception after the programme, with opportunities to talk to the speakers and other active BIAA members.

We are also holding at dinner before the event at the British Academy on Friday 10 October, and we hope that as many as possible of you will join us there for a relaxed and enjoyable Turkish evening.

http://biaa.ac.uk/event/alan-hall-one-day-event-non-member-ticket