Call for Submissions: Fenestella – Inside Medieval Art, Deadline: 30th June 2023

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.

Issue 4/2023 has no specific topic. Please find more information about submissions here.

British Archaeological Association Research Awards, deadline 1 June 2023

The BAA invites applications for research awards of up to £1,500. These are designed to assist those who might otherwise have difficulty in funding or completing a research project and is therefore not open to students registered on degree courses, or those in full-time employment for whom research is an expectation written into their employment contract. The awards cover research with a defined outcome, such as publication, mounting of an exhibition, scientific analysis (in the case of scientific and/or technical analysis, we require the results of the analysis to be pAQublicly available). Research proposals for which some funding has already been obtained are eligible, though it should be shown that the additional funds for which you are applying to the BAA are sufficient to complete the research. Proposals contingent on additional future funding will not be supported. The deadline for applications is 1 June 2023.

Applicants are required to provide one reference, along with an anticipated research schedule and budget. The research proposal must fall within the Association’s fields of interest (as defined below). Applicants should either be ordinarily resident in the UK, or work on material from, in, or directly related to the art, architecture or archaeology of the British Isles.

An application form can be downloaded below. Once complete this should be sent as an email attachment to the Hon. Secretary on secretary@thebaa.org Funds are limited, so the awards are competitive.

BAA STATEMENT OF INTEREST
The Association’s interests are defined as the study of archaeology, art and architecture from the Roman period to the present day, principally within Europe and the Mediterranean basin. The BAA’s core interests run from the Roman era to the 16th century and embrace the study of these periods (historiographical, antiquarian, conservationist).

More information can be found here.

Call for Papers: Digitally Mapping the Middle Ages, Medieval Academy of America 2024 Annual Meeting (Deadline 30th May 2023)

Since the Spatial turn in the late 1980s, theorists and historians alike have championed the insights geospatial analysis can lend to historical research. The digital age produced a robust array of digital Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for just that purpose. And yet, the most significant obstacle most scholars interested in GIS face is knowing how to get started.

The papers in this MAA panel chart, from start to finish, the process of mapping the Middle Ages. The panel brings together researchers from across disciplines to reflect upon the possibilities of spatial modes of analysis as well as the process for constructing digital visualizations of spatial relationships to advance historical arguments. Each panelist will present ongoing research that involves substantial digital visualizations, tracing their work from conception, to research design, to data collection, to visualization program selection, to modeling and analysis.

Panelists will candidly discuss their processes for turning messy historical evidence into refined datasets and digital visualizations. To make the panel widely accessible, the panelists will assume no specific knowledge of the digital humanities or experience with GIS. This panel questions how the process of spatial analysis and GIS outputs can aid in historical inquiry, particularly research into the medieval period.

Please send abstracts of no more than 250 words together with a short bio to Eileen Morgan (emwmorgan@nd.edu) and Brittany Forniotis (brittany.forniotis@duke.edu) by May 30. Please include your name, title, and affiliation.

New Books Series: ‘The Senses and Material Culture in a Global Perspective’

The series aims to investigate paradigms of sensation in a global perspective, incorporating methods and tools derived from different disciplines including Sensory Studies, Material Culture Studies, and Disability Studies. It aims to bring together scholars to develop the notion of sensory agency of material objects and art through an interdisciplinary, combined examination of material and visual culture, sensory perception, and the social, cultural and moral values attributed to the senses. The series also seeks to develop notions of intrasensoriality and sensory diversity, acknowledging the variety of sensorial experiences. It adopts a transnational, global perspective, and a broad chronological framework, spanning from Prehistory until today.

Rather than promoting theoretical studies, it aims to encourage and welcome contributions rooted in the everyday lived experiences of individuals belonging to diverse social groups, categories and communities, including people with different ways of sensing. In this regard, the material culture of sensation will form a crucial part of the examination. Studies that focus on discourses on the senses in narrative and documentary texts, hence setting sensation against a broader interpretive background, will also be considered.

Fields of interest – History; History of Art; Archaeology; Anthropology; Sociology; Religious Studies; Sensory Studies; Material Culture Studies; Visual Culture Studies; Anthropology; Disability Studies

Chronological scope – Prehistory until today

Geographical scope – Global

Method of peer review – Double-blind undertaken by specialist members of the Board or external specialists

The series warmly welcomes volume proposals for both monographs and thematically coherent essay collections. Main language: English
Additional languages: French; Italian; Spanish Submissions should be sent to:

Zuleika Murat, University of Padua zuleika.murat@unipd.it

Find out more here: https://www.brepols.net/series/sensart

Tours and Talks: Rituals of Power Through the Centuries at the Society of Antiquaries, 5th May 2023, 5-8pm (BST)

To coincide with the Coronation of Charles III on Saturday 6 May, we will be welcoming visitors to a rolling programme of show and tell sessions, tours, workshops, performances and demonstrations all exploring rituals of power through the ages.

Come and see some of our portraits of Kings and Queens and learn more about what a 1225 copy of the Magna Carta, the Great Seal of Henry VIII, Civil War pamphlets, and a colourful panorama of Queen Victoria’s coronation procession, among many others, tell us about rituals, symbols, and transfers of power.

Join us for sessions of Early Modern poetry and music. Fellow Linda Grant will be reading two poems, one each from the courts of Henry VIII and Charles II, by Thomas Wyatt and John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester – the latter extremely bawdy and obscene so adults only! Each reading will be accompanied by live music from the period – and we’ll consider how these poems might contest and subvert ideas of monarchy and authoritative power.

We are also offering activities to get creative and inky with lino block printing and the chance to create your own printed badge, postcard or tote bag to take away. We have commissioned lino cut replicas of ‘royal themed’ 18th-century printing blocks, which were used to illustrate the Society’s early publications. Visitors will be guided in inking one of these blocks to print onto their chosen object.

Cocktails and victuals throughout the evening.

You can book your free time slot below. Please note that each time slot will have the same activities so please only book one slot for yourself or one slot per person in your group as we expect this event to be over-subscribed.

Please note:

  • Tours will start on the hour, each hour. Places are limited to 20 and these will be allocated on a first come, first served basis, regardless of if you’ve registered to come.
  • The poetry readings contain graphic, sexual and explicit content that will not be appropriate for minors.

For those with accessibility needs, the show and tell session in our Library can be reached via our lift, which can fit one standard wheelchair inside it, without a carer.

This event is in person at Burlington House only. Please select the appropriate ticket below.

If you have any questions, please contact us at communications@sal.org.uk

Reserve your tickets here

Symposium: “Intersections: Encounters with Medieval and Renaissance Textiles, 1100-1550”, The 28th Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Monday 22nd May 2023, 9am-6:30pm (BST)

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.

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

Generously supported by Sam Fogg.

Tickets are free, but essential. Register here.

Please find a complete programme below:

9.00 – Opening remarks

Secular Textiles
9.15 – 10:40 Panel 1 – Networks and trade /collecting of textiles

Key Note Samuel Cohn
Textiles, Piety, and Memory in Late Medieval Tuscany

Julia van Zandvoort
‘Per la gran furia di compratori’: Obtaining Flemish Tapestries in Sixteenth-century Italy, the case of the Van der Molen firm (1538-1544)

Nina Reiss – Trojan War tapestries (production / trade)
The ‘intersecting geographies’ of the tapestries of the Trojan War – tapestry
production between Paris and Tournai

10.40-11.00 Panel discussion

11.00-11.30 Tea Break

11:35 – 13:00 Panel 2 – Textiles in secular settings

Chiara Stombellini
(Re-)Weaving Ritual Paths: Silk Textiles as Markers of Ceremonial Space in Late Medieval Venice

Pauline Devriese
The stink of the cities – secondary scenting of domestic textiles in Europe

Karina Pawlow
Textile and glass interweaved. Entanglements of two arts in Renaissance Venice

13.00-13.20 Panel discussion

13.20-14.20 Lunch break

Religious Textiles
14:25 – 15:50 Panel 3 – Textiles and ritual function / iconography

Jessica Gasson
Tapestries on the altar: exploring the design and use of the Louvre Virign of the Living Water and the Sens Three Coronation tapestries

Julie Glodt
Overlapping Incarnation and Consecration Textiles, Images and Gestures around the Cluny Museum’s Corporal Case (13th century)

Aimee Clark
“The Garden of the Incarnation and the Conversion of the Heart: The Mass of Saint Gregory”

15.50-16.10 Panel discussion

16.10-16.30 Coffee break

16:35 – 17:55 Panel 4 – Reassembling Religious Textiles

Mireia Castano Martine
Fragmentation and reconstruction of an embroidered altar frontal

Jeroen Reyniers
Many layers of textiles. The relic treasure of Herkenrode in Hasselt (Belgium) revealed through material technical research

Jordan Quill
At the Intersection of Political and Ritual functions of textiles: Sensory Experiences of Textiles in the Sumtsek at Alchi, Ladakh

17.55-18.15 Panel discussion

18.15-18.25 Closing remarks

18.30 Wine reception

New Publication: Medieval World: Culture & Conflict Issue 6, “King Louis IX of France (r. 1226-1270)”

Issue 6 of Medieval World: Culture & Conflict looks at the world of King Louis IX of France (r. 1226–1270) – “the most Christian king” – who was a keen diplomat, ardent crusader, and remarkable patron.

Theme-related content includes:
M. Cecilia Gaposchkin, “‘The most Christian king’: The World of Louis IX,” 16-23.
William E. Welsh, “Disaster in the Delta: Louis’ Seventh Crusade,” 24-27.
Nicholas Morton, “Louis and the Mongols: Eurasian Geopolitics and the Tides of War and Diplomacy,” 28-33.
Sean L. Field, “Louis IX’s Large Family: Powerful Women of the Capetian Court,” 34-37.
Lindy Grant, “Blanche of Castile: The Mother of Louis IX,” 38-41.

Other features:
Marvin G. Haynes, “Bloody Waters: The Imjin War at Sea, 1592-1598,” 8-13.
Robert Jones, “Heraldic Roots: Origins and Early Development,” 14-15.
Magdalena Lanuszka, “Wawel Hill: The Real ‘House of the Dragon’,” 42-45.
Andrew G. Ralston, “‘A stately edifice of large extent’: Glasgow’s Medieval Cathedral,” 46-47.
Brandon M. Bender, “Æthelred versus Cnut: The English Campaigns of 1014,” 48-51.
Manon Henzen, “Blanc Manger: Chicken pudding anyone?” 52-53.
Adrian Gheorghe, “Dracula’s Men: The Equipment and Tactics of Wallachian Soldiers,” 54-57.

Preorder here.

Lecture: Heralding the Coronation: Heralds and Heraldry at Coronations from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, Adrian Ailes, 2nd May 2022, 1-2pm (BST)

A look at the way in which heralds have helped organise, marshal, and record coronations in this country since 1400 and how the heraldry displayed at these extraordinary rituals symbolised power both royal and imperial.

This event is in person and online.

Attendance at Burlington House:
  • Open to anyone to join, Fellows, Affiliates and General Public.
  • Places in person will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • The event will begin at 13.00 BST. Please arrive in plenty of time.
  • Registration is essential for non-Fellows but we encourage Fellows to register as well.
Attendance by Live Stream:
  • Open to anyone to join, Fellows, Affiliates and General Public.
  • The event will be live-streamed to YouTube here
  • The event will begin at 13.00 BST.
  • You will receive an email reminder with the link to join the day before the lecture.

If you have any questions, please contact us at communications@sal.org.uk

To book tickets, please click here.

Lecture: “Giotto’s Ugliness: Art, Literature, and Pictorial Naturalism”, by Marco Ruffini, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 3rd May 2023, 17:00 GMT

That Giotto was ugly – indeed of proverbial ugliness – Boccaccio tells us in the Decameron. But was this really Giotto’s physical appearance? This paper will explain that the painter’s ugliness is a symbolic attribute of Giotto’s pictorial naturalism focused on the faithful imitation of the natural world, at the time juxtaposed to ideal beauty. Giotto’s ugliness, therefore, has more to do with Giotto’s art rather than with his own physical features. As a matter of fact, depicting an artist as an ugly individual is a recurring trope in the history of pictorial naturalism and art literature from the classical to the modern age.

Marco Ruffini is Professor of History of Art Criticism and Artistic Literature at Sapienza, University of Rome. He studied at Sapienza and the University of California, Berkeley. He has taught at Dartmouth College and Northwestern University. His studies focus on theoretical and methodological issues in thinking about the arts and the history of art history.

Organised by Dr Guido Rebecchini (The Courtauld)

This is an in person event at the Vernon Square campus. Booking will close 30 minutes before the event begins.

Register here.

New Publication: “Rethinking the Dialogue between the Verbal and the Visual: Methodological Approaches to the Relationship Between Religious Art and Literature (1400–1700)”, ed. Ingrid Falque and Agnes Guiderdoni

Intermediality, figurability, iconotext, visual exegesis: these are some of the many new ways in which the relationship between text and image has been explored in recent decades. Scholars have benefited from theoretical work in the fields of anthropology, psychoanalysis, and semiotics, alongside more traditional fields such as literature, art history and cultural history. Focusing on religious texts and images between 1400 and 1700, the essays gathered in this volume contribute to these developments by grounding their case studies in methodology. In considering various relations between the visual and the verbal, the editors have adopted the broadest position possible, emphasizing the phenomenological point of view from which the objects under discussion are examined.

Purchase here.