The art of the icon, a visual idiom born in the Eastern Church, has deeply influenced the visual creations of Western Christianity from the Middle Ages onward, despite the adoption of a different aesthetic that was created in opposition to this maniera greca during the Renaissance. Even though artistic modernity was built against this art considered ‘awkward’, it did not prevent the ‘Byzantine’ style to come back to surface several times in the West. This volume aims to question the reasons of these revivals of the art of the icon in distinct Western artistic and religious contexts. It will highlight in particular the issues underlying the meeting, and sometimes the merging, of the two visual cultures, but also the complex and often conflicting relationships between art and religion.
Lecture series: Oxford Medieval Visual Culture Seminar (Trinity Term 2023), St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, Thursdays 5.15 p.m (BST)
The Smiling Pages: Illuminated Manuscripts
Week 2, 4 May
Richard Gameson Durham University: ‘British Medieval Illuminators’ Blues‘
Week 4, 18 May
Hanna Vorholt University of York: ‘Ruled Lines and the Making of Manuscript Images‘
Week 6, 1 June
Michelle Brown University of London: ‘Visual Exegesis and its Deployment in Insular Illumination‘
Week 8, 15 June
Sara Lipton Stony Brook University: ‘Blood Piety and Anti-Judaism in an Early Fourteenth-century Illuminated Prayer Book from Liège‘
Convenors: Elena Lichmanova (elena.lichmanova@merton.ox.ac.uk) and Gervase Rosser
Talks are open to everyone and will be followed by a drinks reception.
Location: St Catherine’s College, Arumugam Building
Deadline Reminder: Dumbarton Oaks Mentorship Program for Scholars Affected by the Conflict in Ukraine (Deadline 30th April 2023)
In response to the current conflict in Ukraine, Dumbarton Oaks is offering two initiatives to support scholars at risk. The newest initiative—a four-session remote mentorship program co-organized with scholars at Boise State University, University of Kent, Princeton University, and Tufts University—will offer professional development and workshop opportunities around a variety of topics.
Mentorship Program: Dumbarton Oaks | North of Byzantium | Connected Central European Worlds, 1500-1700
Co-organizers: Tomasz Grusiecki (Boise State University), Suzanna Ivanič (University of Kent), Nikos D. Kontogiannis (Dumbarton Oaks), Maria Alessia Rossi (Princeton University), Alice Isabella Sullivan (Tufts University)
We invite applications for a remote four-session mentorship program tailored to early-career scholars affected by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This program is meant to offer professional development and workshop opportunities around the following topics:
- Publishing in top academic journals and books
- Writing successful grant applications
- Preparing successful job documents
- Disseminating research in different contexts
Each professional development event will include presentations from experts and opportunities for Q&A and feedback. These events will be followed by one-on-one mentoring sessions, which are intended to expand on the feedback received, while offering additional tailored guidance for each participant. There might be the possibility for an in-person gathering of all participants upon the completion of the program.
The four sessions will take place in June, July, September, and October 2023. All participants will need to attend all workshops and mentoring sessions to complete the program successfully. Upon completion, each participant will receive a certificate, and may receive an honorarium of $500 (minus any applicable taxes). It is the responsibility of foreign national participants to verify their ability to receive an honorarium.
Eligibility
The successful applicants should be advanced PhD candidates (within 1 year of completion of their degrees) or junior-level scholars (up to 5 years since graduation with a doctoral degree).
We encourage historians and art historians with a specialty in the medieval or early modern visual culture of Eastern Europe to apply to this program. This opportunity is open to all, but preference will be given to scholars whose work has been disrupted by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We anticipate selecting 6-8 participants for this program.
Applications
To apply, please use the online Embark portal to upload a one-page letter of interest with details about your research, skills, and reasons for participating; a CV; and the names and contact details of two referees who may be contacted to provide support letters, if needed, by April 30, 2023.
New Publication: ‘Dans le manuscrit et en dehors: Échanges entre l’enluminure et les autres arts (IX e -XVI e siècles)’, edited by Michele Tomasi
L’enluminure occupe une place centrale dans le système des arts du Moyen Âge et de la première époque moderne. Dotée de caractères propres par son intégration dans cet organisme complexe qu’est le codex, elle dialogue néanmoins avec les autres domaines de la création.
Cet ouvrage explore justement les rapports entre l’enluminure et d’autres arts – que ce soient les textiles, l’orfèvrerie, la sculpture, la gravure ou encore la peinture sur panneau et la peinture monumentale – en considérant des cas significatifs de l’époque carolingienne à la Renaissance, passant de Paris à Bologne, des Alpes à la Méditerranée. Une vingtaine d’autrices et d’auteurs d’Allemagne, de France, d’Italie et de Suisse interrogent les conditions institutionnelles, les formes et les significations des échanges entre les techniques dans et en dehors du manuscrit, entre polyvalence des artistes, collaboration entre les métiers, circulation de modèles, stratégies représentatives.
- Michele Tomasi , Avant-propos
- I. Polyvalence d’artistes à la fin du Moyen Âge, entre la France et l’Italie (avec une escapade helvétique)
- Inès Villela-Petit , Les frères de Limbourg hors du livre
- Nicolas Oget , Le Maître de Coëtivy: un cheminement dans la polyvalence du métier de peintre à la fin du Moyen Âge
- Mireia Castaño , Quelques réflexions sur les rapports entre enluminure et broderie en France au XV e siècle
- Aurélia Cohendy , Les enlumineurs toulousains à la fin du XV e siècle d’après les statuts de leur corporation
- Fabio Massaccesi , Between painting and miniature: the Bolognese case of Jacopo di Paolo and Giovanni da Modena
- Pier Luigi Mulas , Around a forgotten Milanese glyptic illuminator: Giovanni Antonio Decio
- Cristina Quattrini , Illuminators and painters in Milan at the end of the fifteenth century: the case of Princivalle Negri
- Adeline Favre , Autour de Pierre Maggenberg et d’un missel à l’usage de Lausanne: peinture et enluminure à Friborg au début du XV e siècle
- II. Échanges entre l’enluminure et d’autres techniques. Manuscrits et arts sumptuaires
- Fabrizio Crivello , More precious than precious. Miniature and sumptuary arts at the court of Charlemagne
- Ilka Mestemacher , Expanding Illumination Techniques: Paint Splashes and Gold Relief in the Carolingian Aachen Gospels
- Alessia Marzo , At the origins of miniature under crystal. First reflections
- Marina Bernasconi Reusser, Christine Jakobi-Mirwald , Darnings, miniatures, fabrics. Nuns jobs in Engelberg
- III. Sculpture, monumental peinture, architecture, estampe
- Loretta Vandi , A Long Foliate Reform. Acanthus in Romanesque Tuscany between Illumination and Sculpture
- Chiara Paniccia , Rome and the Tuscan figurative area in the 12th century. Contaminations between mural painting and book painting
- Melissa Nieto , De la sculpture à l’enluminure et vice versa. Échanges entre techniques dans la région du Haut-Rhin autour de 1200
- Denise Zaru , Entre enluminure et peinture en Emilie-Romagne à la fin du XV e siècle. Les architectures fictives d’Ercole de’ Roberti: un tool devotionnel
- Nastasia Gallian , Giulio Clovio (1498-1578) et l’estampe
- Index of names
- Index des manuscripts
- The authors and the authors
Call for Session Proposals: Mary Jaharis Center Sponsored Panel, 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 9-11, 2024 (Deadline 15 May 2023)
To encourage the integration of Byzantine studies within the scholarly community and medieval studies in particular, the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture seeks proposals for a Mary Jaharis Center sponsored session at the 59th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, May 9–11, 2024. We invite session proposals on any topic relevant to Byzantine studies.
Session proposals must be submitted through the Mary Jaharis Center website. The deadline for submission is May 15, 2023.
If the proposed session is approved, the Mary Jaharis Center will reimburse a maximum of 4 session participants (presenters and moderator) up to $800 maximum for scholars traveling from North America and up to $1400 maximum for those traveling from outside North America. Funding is through reimbursement only; advance funding cannot be provided. Eligible expenses include conference registration, transportation, and food and lodging. Receipts are required for reimbursement. Participants must participant in the conference in-person to receive funding. The Mary Jaharis Center regrets that it cannot reimburse participants who have last-minute cancellations and are unable to attend the conference.
For further details and submission instructions, please visit https://maryjahariscenter.org/sponsored-sessions/59th-icms.
Please contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.
New Publication: ‘Imágenes de la liturgia medieval: Planteamientos teóricos, temas visuales y programas iconográficos’, by Ángel Pazos López
The Christian liturgy during the Middle Ages was surrounded by complex signs, ceremonies and gestures that have been formally diluted in today’s rites themselves, as well as in numerous objects of material culture preserved in museums and collections. This book studies the world of images of medieval liturgical ceremonies, preserved mainly in the figurative programmes of more complex works of art (manuscripts, sacred artefacts, liturgical textiles, sculptures, etc.) from the methodological paradigms of art history and visual studies. Approaches are presented that allow us to approach the Christian ritual of the Middle Ages within the framework of the iconological method, as well as monographic studies with proposals for how to read today the images of the Eucharist and the other sacraments that are preserved in the rich medieval plastic arts. The monograph includes some colour illustrations, many of which have not been studied before.
La liturgia cristiana durante la Edad Media estaba rodeada de complejos signos, ceremonias y gestos que llegan hasta nuestros días diluidos formalmente en los propios ritos actuales, así como en numerosos objetos de la cultura material conservados en museos y colecciones. Este libro estudia el mundo de las imágenes sobre ceremonias litúrgicas medievales, conservadas principalmente en programas figurativos de obras de arte más complejas (manuscritos, artefactos sagrados, textiles litúrgicos, esculturas, etc.) desde los paradigmas metodológicos de la historia del arte y los estudios visuales. Se presentan planteamientos que nos permiten abordar el ritual cristiano de la Edad Media en el marco del método iconológico, así como estudios monográficos con propuestas para poder leer hoy en día las imágenes que de la eucaristía y de los restantes sacramentos se conservan en la rica plástica medieval. La monografía incluye algunas ilustraciones a color, muchas de ellas no estudiadas con anterioridad.
New Publication: ‘Eikón/Imago: Imago, ius, religio: Religious Images in Illustrated Legal Manuscripts and Printed Books (9th-20th Centuries)’, ed. Maria Alessandra Bilotta and Gianluca del Monaco
The IUS ILLUMINATUM research team is pleased to announce the publication of the monographic number 12 (2023) of the open access journal “Eikon/Imago” published by the Complutense University of Madrid, on the theme: “Imago, ius, religio. Religious Images in Illustrated Legal Manuscripts and Printed Books (9th-20th Centuries)”, edited by Maria Alessandra Bilotta (IEM-NOVA/FCSH) and Gianluca del Monaco (Alma mater studiorum – Università di Bologna) as “Special Guest Editors”.
The monographic issue is the result of a collaboration of the IUS ILLUMINATUM research team (https://iusilluminata.fcsh.unl.pt) of the Institute for Medieval Studies (IEM) of the NOVA University of Lisbon with the CAPIRE Research Group (Collective for Multidisciplinary Analysis of European religious iconography) of the Complutense University of Madrid.
Some of the scientific results of the research conducted by the IUS ILLUMINATUM research team are published in the monographic issue.
Here is the link from where to download all the contributions published in the journal: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/EIKO/issue/view/4005
Job: Special Projects Assistant, Medieval Academy of America, deadline 15 May 2023
Special Projects Assistant
Medieval Academy of America
15 hours/wk (hybrid)
$30/hr (no benefits)
The Medieval Academy of America, an educational non-profit organization incorporated as a 501(c)3 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, seeks a Special Projects Assistant to work with the Executive Director, the Editor of Speculum, and other administrative and Speculum staff on various projects, both in the Boston office and remotely. The position is offered for 15 hours per week at $30 per hour, without medical or retirement benefits. Interest in and knowledge about the Middle Ages is ideal, but there are no degree or foreign-language requirements. While many of the position’s responsibilities can be accomplished remotely, easy access to the MAA’s downtown Boston office is necessary as the job will often entail working onsite in collaboration with other staff members.
Responsibilities will include (but will not be limited to):
Remote:
- processing and assembling grant application dossiers (throughout the year) using the MAA’s backend content management system (YourMembership) as well as Adobe, Excel, and Word;
- assisting with logistical support for the Annual Meeting and the International Congress on Medieval Studies (as necessary);
- other administrative tasks as assigned by the Executive
Onsite:
- processing and shipping books submitted for prize consideration (annually in November);
- managing mass mailings (approximately four times per year);
- Digitizing MAA archival material (on an ad hoc basis);
- Assisting the Speculum mailing operation by recording and organizing incoming books submitted for review and mailing copies to reviewers (approx. 1.5 hours/wk).
To apply, please forward a CV and cover letter stating experience, qualifications, and interest to Executive Director Lisa Fagin Davis LFD@TheMedievalAcademy.org by MAY 15. Position to begin on or around June 15.
Call for Papers: Arabic Pasts 2023, 6-7 October 2023 (Deadline 12 May 2023)
Co-hosted by the Aga Khan University, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations and SOAS, University of London
This annual exploratory and informal workshop offers the opportunity to reflect on methodologies, research agendas, and case studies for investigating history writing in Arabic in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond in any period from the seventh century to the present.
We are interested in papers that consider the practical and conceptual challenges of working on history writing in Arabic. Papers might elucidate the following sorts of questions:
How did adherents of different confessional or juristic traditions, men and women, and members of different social classes within societies that became “Islamic” imagine the shape and meaning of their specific societies’ own pasts, and their relation to the universal history of the Islamic community? Which ways of writing, remembering, or commemorating did they develop?
How can we broaden our scope beyond just textual historiography?
How can marginalised communities and varieties of Arabic be given due attention?
How can works of fiction contribute to our understanding of the past?
How can we explore the past algorithmically? Can digital methods enhance our understanding of the past? Can they also limit or even alter it? Which new digital tools are being developed? What seem to be particularly promising approaches? What is lacking?
In what ways do educational institutions, museums, media organisations and proponents of heritage use history writing to shape loyalties and senses of belonging in society?
How is the past used in creative arts, re-enactment, games, and augmented reality?
Contributions are invited from scholars at all career levels, addressing any period and any part of the Middle East and North Africa, broadly defined. This year we anticipate running the workshop from the Aga Khan Centre in London, with the possibility to have an online component featuring participants who are unable to travel to the UK. As in past years, there is a small budget to provide some travel assistance for scholars outside of London.
Arabic Pasts is co-organized by Hugh Kennedy (SOAS), James McDougall (Oxford), Lorenz Nigst (AKU-ISMC), and Sarah Bowen Savant (AKU-ISMC).
Please submit an abstract of 300 words or less in word document by Friday, 12 May 2023 to ArabicPastsConf@aku.edu.
Hybrid Symposium: Consortium Medievalists: ‘Sensory Experiences Across Medieval Communities’, Fordham University, New York, Saturday 6 May 2023
The Consortium Medievalists is excited to invite you to our 2023 symposium, Sensory Experiences Across Medieval Communities, on May 6! Find the flyer below for the full list of panels, talks, and performances. This year’s symposium will be held hybridly at Fordham University Lincoln Center Campus, and via Zoom. Please R.S.V.P here.
Questions may be directed to consortium.medievalists@gmail.com, and more information may be found on our website,
www.consortiummedievalists.com
Medieval Art Research 