Workshop on Medieval Wall Paintings, 17 May 2023, The Courtuald, Vernon Square Campus, London

17th May 2023, 10am – 4pm, The Courtauld, Vernon Square Campus, London (in person) 

Wall paintings, as one of the only forms of public art surviving from the Middle Ages, are an invaluable resource for art-historians, historians, and literary specialists, among others. However, there are also many challenges to wall painting research: it can be difficult to ‘read’ their imagery, they are often highly degraded, and crucial archival material is often dispersed and difficult to interpret.

This interdisciplinary research workshop invites participation from PhD and Early Career Researchers in art-history, history, literature, conservation, and other disciplines whose research projects involve medieval wall paintings. As well as establishing a network of researchers working on related material, we will discuss practicalities and methods of research into wall paintings. You will have the opportunity to see the National Wall Painting Survey held at The Courtauld, which contains a vast archive of material covering almost 8,000 wall paintings in the British Isles. We will also hear from wall paintings conservator Emily Howe (who has worked on the mural schemes at Eton and Westminster) about using conservation reports as part of the study of historic wall paintings.

This workshop offers the opportunity to:

  • Examine different methods of researching wall paintings.
  • Analyse the uses and interpretation of conservation reports for scholars working in other disciplines. 
  • Assess the different types of sources for researching wall paintings.Discuss the issues surrounding the dating of wall paintings, and the various methods for doing so.
  • Consider the distinctive iconographies found in wall painting and their potential relevance to broader historical enquiries. 

As part of the workshop, all participants will be invited to give a ten-minute lightening talk on the role of wall paintings in their research. 

Whilst this workshop places emphasis on English wall painting due to the connection with the National Wall Painting Survey at The Courtauld, we are keen to consider wall paintings as a global phenomenon. Therefore, we encourage submissions from a broad geographical scope pre-1550.

This workshop is supported by the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE), AHRC.

Travel bursaries available for travel within England, capped at £100 per person.
To apply, please send a CV and a short statement (300 words) on the role of wall paintings within your research to florence.eccleston@courtauld.ac.uk by Friday 14th April 2023.

Lecture: ‘Medieval Stained Glass in the Churches of the Golden Valley’, with Robert Walker in Church of St Michael & All Angels, 11 March 2023, 7pm (GMT)

An evening with Robert Walker talking about his latest book The Medieval Stained Glass of Herefordshire and Shropshire in the Church of St Michael & All Angels in Eaton Bishop.

Robert Walker, is a retired building conservation officer with a life-long interest in historical churches. Copies of his latest book, The Medieval Stained Glass of Herefordshire & Shropshire will be available to purchase at the event for £25.

Tickets are £10 each. Tickets include canapes and a glass of wine. Further drinks are available for purchase. Tickets are available for purchase from Mary Kimber (marykimber@btinternet.com)

Call for Papers: The Early Discovery of Medieval Art by Travelers Looking for Antiquity in South Europe (Deadline: 15 March 2023)

Between the 17th and early 19th centuries, travel played an essential role in the rediscovery of medieval art. Cultured men from all over Europe visited Mediterranean countries to see Greek and Roman monuments, but they were often confronted with artefacts and buildings from later centuries. How did
they perceive medieval monuments that fell before their eyes while they were in search of classical antiquities? What terms did they use to describe them? What interpretative categories did they adopt to define them? What aesthetic or historical opinions they had on the Middle Ages in comparison with Antiquity, which was the main goal of their journey?

This conference wishes to examine the different attitudes towards medieval heritage in authors who were prepared to study Antiquity and verify their impact on the development of a new discipline specifically dedicated to the History of Medieval Art, as it appeared in Europe from 1820’s onward.

Deadline for proposals: 15 March 2023
Conference dates: 20-21 November 2023
Where: University of Naples Federico II

Applicants are kindly requested to send a title and an abstract (max 300 words), together with a short curriculum vitæ, to the e-mail address: diomedaconference2023@gmail.com. Proposals will be evaluated, and the applicants will receive an answer by mid-April 2023. The organization will cover coffee/lunch breaks. Travel and accommodation will be at the charge of the participants.

For more information, click here.

Call For Papers: Intersections: Entanglements with Medieval and Renaissance Textiles, 1100-1550. (Deadline 20 March, 2023)

The Courtauld Postgraduate Medieval Symposium 2023 – Monday 22nd May 2022, London, UK

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, textiles wrapped up and coated walls, people, furniture, and objects. They provided omnipresent, and often complex, symbolic and visual demarcations of spaces. Diplicare, the root of display, is in unfolding: so much of the frameworks of how we surround ourselves are rooted in practices using cloth. The value of these textiles, both in their materiality and craftsmanship, exceeded that of many other artforms which have been privileged by scholars. Textiles were often disregarded in art historical study, considered to be visually unappealing or discredited in previous centuries as part of the decorative arts. In addition, only a fraction of the textiles that functioned in these spaces survive, many of which are in a fragmented state.

In recent years, textiles have received more attention in art historical studies, and block buster exhibitions on tapestries have made the importance of textiles clear to a wider public. There are, however, still many new angles from which we can interrogate and discuss textiles which can enrich, connect, and reframe not only textile history but wider research subjects in Medieval and Renaissance studies.

In this symposium we would like to draw together varying angles of research through their intersections with textiles, in whatever capacity. The theme of this symposium centres on how Medieval and Renaissance textiles, real and depicted, combine, overlap or intersect in different ways. In short, it aims to interrogate how textiles get entangled with other people, arts, materials, objects and functions.

To apply, please send a proposal of up to 250 words for a 20-minute paper, or an alternative presentation, with a CV to c1300199@courtauld.ac.uk by no later than Monday 20th March 2023.

The Medieval Postgraduate Symposium will take place at The Courtauld’s Vernon Square campus, in person, on Monday 22nd May 2023.

Organised by Jessica Gasson (The Courtauld) and Julia van Zandvoort (The Courtauld)

For more information, click here.

Call for Papers: Skin and Bone, Wood and Stone: Medieval Animals Heritage Conference 

The NLHF Medieval Animals Heritage Conference organisers invite abstracts for 20-minute academic papers or panel sessions of 90 minutes that explore aspects of research on the theme of medieval and early modern animal studies, green heritage, sustainability, and wellbeing engagement.
Medieval animals traditionally are linked to St Francis, but this conference also discusses how books of beasts were used by St Anselm and his kinsman Honorius to connect spirituality to people’s emotions in what became an important local and international heritage. Anselm told parables about the soaring Eagle, the shy Little Owl, the frightened Hare, and the beautiful Pearl of the oyster while Honorius drew on the early bestiary to create stories to be carved and painted in churches – such as the Lion breathing life into his stillborn cubs as a figure for hope. The NLHF Medieval Animals Heritage Project has used these ideas to promote SEND and community engagement in green heritage. Proposals for papers may include, but are not limited to:

• Medieval and early modern animality and animal studies

• Medieval and early modern animal fables, macers, bestiaries, and De Avibus

• Scholarship on medieval treatises, sermons and parables concerning animals

• Folklore, magic, and ritual involving medieval and/or early modern animals

• Modern medievalism, postcolonialism, and antiracist scholarship linked to animals

• Medieval and early modern animal art and material culture, e.g., parchment and illuminations, bone carvings, and curated collections

• Non-European medieval animal studies

• Engagement with medieval animal heritage themes, digital animalities, activism, restoration, and craft
• Learning and teaching (including SEND activities) involving medieval animal themes 

• Medieval and early modern environmental issues, green heritage, and biodiversity

 As well as a call for papers, the Skin and Bone, Wood and Stone Conference is looking for creative contributions. There will be a gallery exhibition space as part of the conference, and we are keen to exhibit creative responses to the theme of Medieval Animals Heritage. Please get in touch with any questions.

This free and exciting face to face conference will include a tour of Rochester Cathedral and its Textus 900 Exhibition, a wine reception, thanks to the generosity of University of Wales Press Medieval Animals series, and will finish with the Medieval Animal Heritage themed Canterbury Medieval Pageant and Family Trail.  Please send a title, a suitable image for the programme, and a 150-word abstract, plus your contact details and a brief CV to:  
Dr Diane Heath at diane.heath@canterbury.ac.uk by 25th March 2023, thank you.

For more information click here.

Funding Opportunity: VAG Winter Conference Bursaries (Deadline 24 February 2023)

The 2023 Spring Conference of the Vernacular Architecture Group will be held in Stockport,
Greater Manchester, from Tuesday 11 to Saturday 15 April 2023. During the day members
will tour the locality, visiting and interpreting lesser traditional buildings. Lectures and
discussions will be held in the evenings. The visits will cover Stockport’s medieval centre and
the village of Warburton (Wednesday), halls and barns of north Manchester (Thursday) and
Fairfield Moravian settlement and halls south of Manchester (Friday). The conference will be
based at Bredbury Hall Hotel.
The Vernacular Architecture Group is able to offer three bursaries to assist registered
students or professionals in the early years of their career to attend the Conference. The
Committee is aware that the cost often makes attendance difficult for students and others
who might benefit from the lectures and discussions, and from the opportunity to meet
people active in the field. Both full-time and part-time students are welcome to apply.
Applicants must be students of vernacular architecture or a related discipline, or early career
professionals working in the field. Candidates will be expected to:

  1. show evidence of an active interest in historic buildings, ideally vernacular
    architecture, including a list of relevant courses undertaken
  2. show evidence that they are active in the field, e.g. by membership of the VAG or
    other relevant groups, or through relevant work experience
  3. explain how they hope to benefit from attending the conference

Applications from students must be endorsed by a course tutor, and applications from early
career professionals must be supported by a professional referee. Any other financial
support available to the applicant for attending the conference should be declared.
Applications and tutor endorsements/references should be sent by email to the VAG
Secretary, Claire Jeffery, email secretary@vag.org.uk to reach her no later than Friday 24
February. The bursary will cover the full cost of the £600 residential conference fee but will
not cover travel to or from the conference or any other expenses. Applicants who are already
members of the Group and propose to attend the conference with or without the support of a
bursary should ensure a place on the conference by booking in the normal way. Anyone who
has reserved a place at full cost but subsequently obtains a bursary will receive a full refund.

Bursary recipients will be asked to write a resume of the conference for the VAG Newsletter.
We hope that they will be sufficiently inspired by the conference to join the VAG if they are
not already members. The VAG Committee would be grateful if you could bring this item to
the notice of anyone who is eligible and who you feel would benefit from attending the
conference.

Call for Participation: Graduate Lightning Talks, 2nd Annual Symposium, New York City via Zoom and in person, 6 May 2023 (Deadline: 15 March, 2023)

The Consortium Medievalists invite participation from graduate students in all disciplines for a series of lightning talks, which will take place during our forthcoming second annual symposium, “Sensory Experience Across Medieval Communities.” This symposium aims to explore fresh approaches to the “sensory turn” in studies of the Global Middle Ages. How does sensory experience connect cultures and communities across space and time? In what ways were specific cultures and communities sensorily engaged? This broad exploration of the senses supports a variety of methodologies and perspectives. We are honored to announce that Professor Avinoam Shalem (Art History, Columbia) will be the keynote speaker.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• theories of sense perception in various cultures during the Global Middle Ages

• corporeal vs spiritual senses

• multisensory experience in religious practices and ritual

• the relationship between the senses and constructs of gender, class, race, and ethnicity

• medical, theological, and philosophical understandings of the senses

• the role of the senses in inter-cultural encounters

• affect theory, new-materialism, and environmental humanities

We invite submissions for five- to eight-minute short talks. These presentations may be informal discussions of research-in-progress or more formal analyses. Although there is no requirement, slides and other sensory media may be included. Submissions are welcome from but not limited to the following fields: African Studies, Architecture, Art History, Book History, Disability Studies, East Asian Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History, Islamic and Arabic Studies, Judaic and Hebrew Studies, Languages and Literatures, Law, Manuscript Studies, Musicology, Performance Studies, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Sociology. Talks focused on non-European regions and cultures in the Global Middle Ages are encouraged. 

The Consortium Medievalists are a collection of 120+ Ph.D. and M.A. scholars from the New York City-area inter-doctoral consortium (Columbia, CUNY Graduate Center, NYU, Princeton, Rutgers, The New School, and Stony Brook) as well as Hunter and Yale. This year’s symposium will take place in person at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan and via Zoom. 

To apply to participate, either in person or virtually, send a short abstract (150-200 words) through the link above by March 15th, 2023.For further information or questions, please contact The Consortium Medievalists at consortium.medievalists@gmail.com. Also, you may find us online at www.consortiummedievalists.com

Online Lecture: Dialogue in Homilies and Hymns on the Annunciation: The Dynamics of a Divine Encounter (March 1, 2023)

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce the next lecture in its 2022–2023 lecture series.

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | 12:00 PM EST | Zoom
Dialogue in Homilies and Hymns on the Annunciation: The Dynamics of a Divine Encounter
Mary Cunningham, University of Nottingham

The story of the Annunciation of the archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary is first recounted in the Gospel of Luke 1: 26-38. The event was formally adopted as a major feast in the Eastern Church, celebrated on 25 March (nine months before Christmas) in 560, during the reign of the Emperor Justinian. Homilies and hymns on the Annunciation were composed long before this date, however, not always in association with the feast. These texts build on Luke’s narrative, describing Mary as the ‘Second Eve’ who overturned the disobedience of her first ancestor by consenting to God’s will and conceiving Christ, the Son of God. They celebrate the event as the inauguration of the new dispensation, which will bring salvation to humanity and the rest of creation. Further elaboration, which appears especially in homilies – but later also in hymns – on the Annunciation, can be seen in the invention of dialogues between Gabriel and Mary or Mary and Joseph. These serve not only to convey the doctrine of the incarnation to audiences, but also to illustrate the Virgin’s human condition. She expresses shock and doubt at her first encounter with the archangel, but gradually accepts his message of salvation. This lecture will examine variations in liturgical writers’ handling of the issues of free will, gender, and Marian devotion in Byzantine homilies and hymns on the Annunciation. It will be illustrated by images of the scene, including in icons, manuscript illustrations, and monumental art.

Mary B. Cunningham is Honorary Associate Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Nottingham. Her latest monograph is The Virgin Mary in Byzantium, c. 400-1000. Hymns, Homilies, and Hagiography (Cambridge University Press, 2021).

Advance registration required at https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/dialogue-in-homilies-and-hymns-on-the-annunciation

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

For more information, or to register, click here.

Funding Opportunity: The Servane de Layre-Mathéus Grant Fund of the American Friends of Chartres (Deadline: 31 March 2023)

The American Friends of Chartres is accepting proposals from current graduate students and
emerging scholars for its annual research grant for the study of Chartres. The American Friends
of Chartres will provide a stipend of $2,000.00 and will facilitate lodging, as well as access to the
cathedral, the Centre International du Vitrail, the municipal library, archival collections and
related resources.
The grant will help to support a research project requiring on-site research in Chartres that
promises to advance knowledge and understanding of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres
or its historical contexts in the medieval to early modern period. Topics in the fields of art
history, history, or related disciplines might include architecture, stained glass, sculpture, urban
development, economy, religious practices, manuscripts, or the cathedral treasury, among
others.
Applicants should currently be pursuing a Ph.D. or have received the degree within the last six
years. Following the research project, the grantee is asked to provide a synopsis of the research
and conclusions, which will be publicized through the cultural activities and website of the
American Friends of Chartres. Questions about the grant may be addressed to
ChartresResearchGrant@gmail.com.
Applicants should supply:
A description of up to 500 words of the proposed project, including:

  • questions to be researched and their importance to scholarship on the art, culture, or
    history of Chartres;
  • requirements for access to monuments, works of art, and archival resources;
  • projected length of time and tentative dates to be spent in Chartres;
  • expectations for publication of conclusions, whether alone or as part of a larger project,
    including a Ph.D. dissertation, article, or book.
    A current Curriculum Vitae
    Names and contact information of two references
    Please send application materials as e-mail attachments in Word or PDF format to
    ChartresResearchGrant@gmail.com
    DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: March 31, 2023

The Servane de Layre-Mathéus Fund for Research on Chartres Cathedral
The American Friends of Chartres has established a special fund honoring the memory of
Servane de Layre-Mathéus (1939-2020), co-founder of Chartres–Sanctuaire du Monde, of the
Centre International du Vitrail, and of American Friends of Chartres. Servane dedicated much of
her life to the preservation of Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathedral, and to the pursuit and
transmission of knowledge of medieval art, culture, and spirituality. In recognition of her
contributions, she was made chevalier of the Légion d’honneur, officier des Arts et des Lettres,
and officier de l’ordre national du

Call for Articles: Fenestella 4/2023 (Deadline: June 30, 2023)

A Call for Articles for the Issue 4/2023 of Fenestella is now open.

Fenestella is a scholarly and peer-reviewed open access journal. It is published by Milano University Press on OJS.
Fenestella publishes scholarly papers on medieval art and architecture, between Late Antiquity and c. 1400, covering the Latin West, the Byzantine East and medieval Islam. The journal aims to consider medieval artefacts from within, as if seen through a fenestella confessionis, to throw light on iconography, function and liturgical practice and space.
Fenestella supports basic research. Papers on wide-ranging themes, critical reviews and studies of micro-topics are all welcome, as long as they contribute to the international debate. Fenestella accepts submissions in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.

This issue has no specific topic.
Deadline: 30 JUNE 2023
Register here to make a submission: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/fenestella

Info: redazione.fenestella@unimi.it