Medieval Art Research

Lecture: ‘The Conway Library: historiography, colour, and bibliography’, Anthony Hamber, Thursday 6th July, 17:30-18:30 (BST), Courtauld Vernon Square Campus

The Conway Library contains almost one million photographs of world architecture, architectural drawings, sculpture, decorative arts and manuscripts. It has been constructed over a period of almost a century, though some of the photographs held are considerably older. This paper provides a focused evaluation of the historiography of the library’s origins, and how and why it was built upon Conway’s original donation. A wide spectrum of issues and considerations are examined; the scale and scope of the market for, and availability of, architectural photographs from the time of Conway’s undergraduate career; Conway’s philosophy and approach; channels of distribution and acquisition; the physical constraints of the solander boxes and the range of photographic formats available; of colour photography; of image classification systems; and photographic print processes. There are also cultural and anti-semitic dimensions linked to the Warburg Institute and the role of pre-WW2 German emigrees to London. Cross-references between photographers and their photographs represented in the Conway help link this matrix together and provide further insights into the library’s significance and influence.

Anthony Hamber is an independent photographic historian, specialising in the 19^th century. He was the photographer and head of visual resources at the History of Art Department, Birkbeck College. His PhD was published as A Higher Branch of the Art / Photographing the Fine Arts in England 1839-1880 (1996) and his recent book is Photography and the 1851 Great Exhibition (2018). He has published and lectured widely. His current research projects include an annotated bibliography of photographically illustrated publications 1839-1880. Anthony researches the historiography of art and architecture photographic collections, photographic print processes, and colour reprographics processes.

Organised by Dr Tom Nickson (The Courtauld)

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

Find out more information here.

CFP: British Archaeological Association post-grad conference 2023, deadline 31 July 2023

The BAA invites proposals by postgraduates and early career researchers in the field of medieval history of art, architecture, and archaeology. Papers can be on any aspect of the medieval period, from antiquity to the Later Middle Ages, across all geographical regions.

Proposals of around 250 words for a 20-minute paper, along with a CV, should be sent by 31st July 2023 to postgradconf@thebaa.org

The conference will take place online 29-30th November 2023

Funding: Klesch Collection (c.1400-1700), Deadline: 20th June 2023

The Klesch Collection offers grants towards the yearly cost of university fees to graduate students who have been accepted into a full-time Art History MA or PhD course of study worldwide, beginning the next academic year. PhD students are welcome to apply for any year in their programme.

Applications will be considered from students who will focus/are focusing their studies on European and British painting of the Renaissance and Baroque periods (c. 1400-1700).

The deadline to apply is 20th of June 2023.

More details on how to apply can be found through this link.

Fellowships: Call for Expressions of Interest from Postdoctoral Scholars, British School at Athens (Deadline 9th June 2023)

The British School at Athens invites expressions of interest from postdoctoral scholars who wish to apply for a range of fellowships schemes:

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Leverhulme Trust international Fellowships

The deadline for the submission of expressions of interest to the School is Friday 9 June 2023.

Potential candidates are asked to check the eligibility requirements of the scheme they are interested in. Those interested should send a CV, a list of publications and an outline of the proposed research (no more than 2 pages) to the BSA Assistant Director at assistant.director@bsa.ac.uk. When appropriate, potential candidates are welcome to send a separate statement of any circumstances that may have impacted their research.

Candidates selected by the School will be contacted directly by the Research committee.
For any information please contact assistant.director@bsa.ac.uk

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships offers outstanding early career researchers the opportunity to pursue an independent research project at a host institution, towards completion of a significant piece of publishable research, for a period of 3 years. More information about the scheme is available on the British Academy website (https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/postdoctoral-fellowships/)

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024
These fellowships are open to excellent researchers of any nationality, who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers undertaking international mobility either to or between EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries or in a non-associated Third Country. The objective is to support researchers’ careers and foster excellence in research. These fellowships can last 1 or 2 years (European fellowship) or 2 or 3 years (Global fellowship).
More information about the scheme is available at https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/postdoctoral-fellowships

The Leverhulme Trust international Fellowships
The fellowship is open to researchers established in the UK to develop new knowledge, skills and ideas outside the UK. The scheme may be used for developing new lines of research through overseas collaboration, making ‘discipline-hopping excursions’ into new areas of research, developing
innovations in teaching, preparing for collaborative grant applications, or observing and sharing ground-breaking techniques or practices. Fellowships are tenable for between 3 and 24 months. More information: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/international_fellowships

PhD Funding: “Dynamics of Conventionality (400-1550)”, University of Cologne (Deadline 3rd July 2023)

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Cologne has the following positions available:

4 doctoral positions for a period of three years starting on 1st October 2023 within the framework of the Research Training Group 2212 “Dynamics of Conventionality (400–1550)”. The monthly remuneration for the doctoral positions amounts to 65 % TV-L 13.

The Cologne research training group engages in a reorientation of interdisciplinary research regarding the Middle Ages both in terms of content and methodology. Using ‘conventionality’ as our key concept, we aim at reconstructing the dynamics of European societies and cultures for the time period between 400 and 1550. The hitherto neglected concept of conventionality will enable us to reframe the dynamics of change in medieval history, art, architecture, music, philosophy, and literature. Methodologically, we distance ourselves from the narrative of modernization that – operating with key words such as ‘revolution’ and ‘innovation’ – entails describing the Middle Ages as a deficient preliminary stage of modernity. Such narratives preserve rather static conceptions of an era and tend to justify them in alluding to the specific traditionalism and conventionality of the Middle Ages and its societal and cultural manifestations. In contrast, the Cologne research training group aims at reconstructing their complexity and variety by adopting the concept of conventionality that has been theoretically and philosophically developed within the field of cultural studies. Conventionality signifies all rule-based forms of common actions and practical knowledge that are based on social agreement and guarantee cultural and societal stability and are yet intrinsically apt to various forms of modification and adaptation. Thus, conventions are crucial to facilitate processes of transformation whose effects transcend the great narratives of modernization.

For the time period between 400 and 1550, the significance of conventionality is manifest in the pivotal and ubiquitous concept of consuetudo (custom, habit). Based on this concept, reasoning on social change and persistence was carried out, and a corpus of accepted social and artistic rules was developed. Even though these rules claimed to be normative, they were subject to a constant process of negotiation, modification, reformulation and fictionalization—or they could even be dismissed as bad habits. The Cologne research training group plans to investigate the dynamics of conventionality in different spheres of medieval society. It traces a type of practical knowledge that is not based on rational and controlled methods of the production of knowledge, but on rule-based forms of social agreement. Taking three sets of terms contrary to conventionality – norm, science, and originality – as a foil for comparison, we intend to explore a cluster of thematically differentiated configurations of conventionality in an interdisciplinary context.

The research training group conducts research from an interdisciplinary perspective into the dynamics of conventionality from late antiquity to the early modern era. Under the overarching motto of convention, phenomena such as custom, regularity, tradition, and habitualisation are examined in order to understand their inner dynamics. The disciplines involved are history, German philology, philosophy, art and history, medieval Latin philology, Byzantine studies and musicology. The research training group offers a structured doctoral programme that is integrated interdisciplinarily and internationally. More information on the thematic orientation: https://grk2212.uni-koeln.de

An excellent university degree in one of the subjects covered by the research training group and a clearly recognisable focus on medieval studies are prerequisite for applicants for the doctoral positions. Please submit the following documents in one pdf-file as part of your application:

– Curriculum Vitae and certificates 
– a 4-page exposé on the planned doctoral project
– a 1-page letter of motivation
– a letter of recommondation by a professor

The University of Cologne actively supports equal opportunities and the research institute particularily welcomes applications from female candidates.

Please send your written application by email as one pdf-file by July 3, 2023 to:

Universität zu Köln
GRK 2212
Dr. Anica Schumann
anica.schumann@uni-koeln.de

Fellowship: Research Fellowship, DFK Paris and INHA (Deadline 30th June 2023)

The DFK Paris and the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA) jointly offer a one-year fellowship, effective 1 October 2023. The fellowship is intended for outstanding art historians from France, Germany, or abroad who are at the beginning of their careers (doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers). The goal of this funding opportunity is to support scholarly work with innovative research approaches that open up new perspectives in art history. Not only should the theme and methodology of the project connect to the operative research orientations of each institute, but the fellow’s presence in Paris must also be necessary to the execution of the work. It is a condition of the fellowship that the selected candidate remains in close contact and exchange with both institutes during the funding period and resides predominantly in Paris.

The fellow conducts research for six months at the DFK Paris and six months at the INHA. The selected candidate can expect a stimulating working environment that will faciliate both archival access and the exchange of ideas with international experts.

The amount of the fellowship is 1,750 euros per month for a period of 12 months (plus a monthly allowance of 250 euros for material costs and, if applicable, a child supplement). The recipient will be funded as a scholar for six months at the DFK Paris and six months at the INHA. The award also includes a workspace and use of the infrastructural resources of both institutes.

Applications for the 2023 cycle must be submitted no later than 30 June 2023 to: stipendien@dfk-paris.org

Only applications received in this way will be considered in the selection process. The selection committee, consisting of Peter Geimer, Julia Drost, Éric de Chassey, and France Nerlich, will meet in July 2023.

Composition of the application dossier:
The application may be written in English, French, or German.
– a letter of application addressed to the director of the DFK Paris and the director of the INHA’s Département des études et de la recherche
– a CV
– a project description (max. 3 pages), supplemented by a bibliography with details on the sources to be consulted, as well as a schedule

The selection committee convenes once a year.

Further information and contact:
Secretary to the director of the Département des études et de la recherche
Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA)
Tel.: +33 (0)1 47 03 85 81
Email: der-dir@inha.fr

German Center for Art History Paris (DFK Paris)
Department for Grants, Internships, and Support
Tel.: + 33 (0)1 42 60 68 23
Email: stipendien@dfk-paris.org

Seminar: “‘Look er thin herte be set’: Courtship, Emotion and Gender in Late Medieval England” by Bronach Kane, 25th May 2023 17:30 GMT

This seminar is part of the ongoing IHR European History 1150-1550 seminar series. For complete information and to register, click here.

Job Opportunity: Assistant Professor in Spatial Approaches to Digital Humanities, Vrije Universiteit (Deadline 9th June 2023)

The Department of Art & Culture, History, and Antiquity at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, is looking for a specialist who combines expertise in the spatial digital methods and techniques with the historical sciences, in particular archaeology, heritage studies, history, or art history. The department is interested both in the representation of the past in the present and the use of spatial digital methods and techniques in research into and management of the past. The successful candidate will contribute to the broadening and strengthening of the department’s profile in digital humanities by develop their own line of teaching and research in the spatial approaches to the past.

The appointee will contribute to shaping research and teaching in the field of Digital Archaeology and Heritage. They will incorporate digital spatial analysis such as GIS and/or network analysis into teaching within the history, archaeology, heritage studies and/or art history programs. In addition, the appointee is expected to reflect critically on the representations of the past and on the use of spatial digital methods and techniques in the historical sciences and to cooperate with colleagues in teaching and research. They will help train a new generation of students competent in digital spatial analysis who can contribute to digital heritage management, co-design, predictive modelling, or digital science communication in the field of historical sciences.

For complete information and to apply, click here.

Conference: “Ethiopians Abroad in the Middle Ages”, Ecole francaise de Rome, 23rd-26th May 2023

The international conference of the ERC project HornEast (Horn & Crescent. Connections, Mobility and Exchange between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East in the Middle Ages). The project offers the first comprehensive study of medieval connections between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East in both Christian and Islamic contexts.

For more information, click here.

Programme

23 May 2023

Pontificio Istituto Orientale

15.00 Visit of the Pontificio Istituto Orientale

16.45 Key note lecture by Alessandro Bausi

24 May 2023

École française de Rome, piazza Navona 62

9.00 Welcome of the participants

9.30 Introduction of the conference

10.00 Session 1. Slaves and Freed Men and Women

14h Opening of the exhibition Four Campaigns of Archaeological Survey and Excavations in Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia

14.40 Session 2. Cultural Brokers

25 May 2023

École française de Rome, piazza Navona 62

9.00 Session 3. Jerusalem

11.20 Session 4. Networks I. Materiality

14.00 Session 5. Networks II. Monasteries and Tariqas

16.20 Session 6. Networks III. Embassies

26 May 2023

École française de Rome, piazza Navona 62

9.00 Session 7. Ethiopian Cairo

12.40 Conclusions

15.00 Visit of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana and of the Church of Santo Stefano dei Mori

Members of the ERC project HornEast:

Simon Dorso, Aix-Marseille Université
Julien Loiseau, Aix-Marseille Université
Shahista Mohamed, Aix-Marseille Université

Speakers:

Olivia Adankpo, Université Grenoble Alpes
Mathilde Alain, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance (University of Warwick) – Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (Université de Tours)
Martina Ambu, LabEx Hastec – EPHE (Paris)
Deresse Ayenachew, I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies (Florence)
Alessandro Bausi, Universität Hamburg
Iskandar Bcheiry, American Theological Library Association
Sobhi Bouderbala, ERC HornEast – Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales de Tunis
Giuseppe Cecere, Università di Bologna – Alma Mater Studiorum
Alice Croq, ANR ChrIs-cross
Sophia Dege-Müller, Universität Hamburg
Alessandro Gori, Københavns Universitet
Magdi Guirguis, Kafrelsheikh University et IFAO (Égypte)
Bertrand Hirsch, Université Paris-1 Panthéon Sorbonne
Timothy Insoll, University of Exeter
Verena Krebs, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Zacharie Mochtari, Université de Liège
Mikael Muehlbauer, Columbia University
Craig Perry, Emory University
Perrine Pilette, CNRS – UMR Orient et Méditerranée (Paris)
Zaroui Pogossian, Università degli Studi di Firenze
Camille Rouxpetel, Université de Nantes
Awet Teklehimanot Araya, University of Exeter
Anaïs Wion, CNRS – Institut des Mondes Africains (Paris)

Hybrid Lecture: Images of the Gospels through Ethiopian and European Eyes, Dr Dorothea McEwan, 23 May 2023, 5:30 – 7:30PM BST

Images of the Gospels, through Ethiopian and European Eyes – the Evangelium arabicumas vorlage for an Ethiopian tetraevangelium. An example of the new Gondärine style of painting in Ethiopia in the 17th century

Dr Dorothea McEwan (Honorary Fellow, Warburg Institute, and Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences)

A John Coffin Memorial Lecture

Illuminated gospel books such as Or 510 in the British Library, 1664-65, and the Märtula Maryam gospel book, kept in Märtula Maryam, also called Ǝnnäbǝse, in Gojjam, Central Ethiopia, c. 1650s, are examples of precious gospel books of the middle of the 17th century. The gospel stories are richly illuminated, the paintings skilfully executed by more than one painter, the colours still vivid and well-preserved.

Dr McEwan chose the Märtula Maryam tetraevangelium to explain its European source or vorlage, the so-called Evangelium arabicum of 1591. What makes the illuminations in the Ethiopian manuscript book so extraordinarily important is the adoption of painting methods such as the nascent use of perspective and the borrowing of visual props from its European vorlage. Dr McEwan’s presentation into the origins and sources of the Ethiopian images is centred on parallel examples from the Ethiopian and European books. She will show pictures selected from the gospel according to Luke and explain their adaptation to the Ethiopian painting milieu, throwing up idiosyncrasies in the Ethiopian illuminations, triggered by transposing European images in to the Ethiopian milieu.

Dorothea McEwan studied History at the University of Vienna where she was awarded her PhD. After having moved to London she worked in the British Library cataloguing the John Churchill, First Duke of Marlborough papers. She was the Archivist in The Warburg Institute, University of London, until her retirement and has devoted her time since to researching illuminated Ethiopian manuscripts. She has published widely on historical and theological topics. In 2008 she was awarded the Cross of Honour in Art and Sciences from the President of the Republic of Austria, in 2021 the Grand Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria from the President of the Republic of Austria, and in 2017 she was elected Associate Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.

This lecture follows a paper by Dr McEwan at the British Library in May 2019, an online international conference on Ethiopian art and architecture, hosted by Complutense University, Madrid, in November 2021, and an online seminar on recent studies in Ethiopian art and architecture held at the Warburg Institute in May 2022.

ATTENDANCE FREE IN PERSON OR ONLINE (VIA ZOOM) WITH ADVANCE BOOKING

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

A full text of the lecture with accompanying images will be available online after the event.

Please book here.