Medieval Art Research

Fellowships: 2022-2023 Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies Visiting Research Fellowships, University of Pennsylvania (Deadline 15th May 2022)

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries is accepting applications for the 2022-2023 Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies (SIMS) Visiting Research Fellowship program. Guided by the vision of its founders, Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, SIMS aims to bring manuscript culture, modern technology, and people together to provide access to and understanding of our shared intellectual heritage. Part of the Penn Libraries, SIMS oversees an extensive collection of premodern manuscripts from around the world, with a special focus on the history of philosophy and science, and creates open-access digital content to support the study of its collections. SIMS also hosts the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts and the annual Schoenberg Symposium on Manuscript Studies in the Digital Age.

The SIMS Visiting Research Fellowships have been established to encourage research relating to the premodern manuscript collections at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, including the Schoenberg Collection. Affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, located near other manuscript-rich research collections (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Science History Institute, and the Rosenbach Museum and Library, among many others), and linked to the local and international scholarly communities, SIMS offers fellows a network of resources and opportunities for collaboration. Fellows will be encouraged to interact with SIMS staff, Penn faculty, and other medieval and early modern scholars in the Philadelphia area. Fellows will also be expected to present their research at Penn Libraries either during the term of the fellowship or on a selected date following the completion of the term.

Applicants can apply to spend 1 month (minimum of 4 work weeks) at SIMS between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023. Project proposals should demonstrate that the Libraries’ premodern manuscript resources are integral to proposed research topics. Up to 3 fellowships will be awarded this year.

Recipients will be expected to conduct their research at SIMS, with the exception of short research trips in support of the proposed project to nearby institutions. Proposals with a digital component are encouraged though not required.

Fellowships are open to all scholars living outside of the greater Philadelphia area. Applicants must have completed a Ph.D. or an equivalent professional degree by the time the fellowship begins. Independent scholars with a substantial record of achievement are encouraged to apply. Applicants who have not completed a Ph.D. at the time of application must have a letter from their dissertation advisor(s) stating that the degree will be completed prior to the applicant’s proposed dates of the fellowship.

Application Process
To be considered, applicants must submit the following by May 15, 2022:

A 2-3 page summary of the project that clearly states a) the relationship of Penn Libraries’ manuscript collections to the project, b) the project’s significance to manuscript studies, and c) a workplan for the duration of the fellowship. The proposal should include name of applicant(s), title of project, preferred dates of the fellowship.
A cv.
Two letters of support from scholars who can speak to the merits of the project. Letters should address the project’s potential for contributing to the advancement of the understanding of the material and its impact on its related field(s) of study. Letters may be included in the application or sent separately by the referee if preferred.

Applications should be sent by email to lransom@upenn.edu, preferably as a single pdf, or by post to:

Lynn Ransom
Curator, SIMS Programs
Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies
University of Pennsylvania Libraries
3420 Walnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Call for Submissions: Authenticity Studies, International Journal of Archaeology and Art (Deadline 15th July 2022)

Authenticity Studies-International Journal of Archaeology and Art is an international and independent journal, based on a peer review system and dedicated to the study of the methods of attribution and authentication of archaeological and art-historical artifacts.

Founded by Monica Salvadori (Editor in Chief), Federica Toniolo, Andrea Tomezzoli, Marta Nezzo, Monica Baggio and Luca Zamparo, Authenticity Studies is a journal of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua and is published by Padova University Press. Authenticity Studies is an open access electronic journal (with ISSN). It is based on an anonymous and international double peer review system.

Authenticity Studies accepts original and unpublished contributions focused on three main research lines:

1 – Theory and method of art-historical and archaeological attribution
2 – Investigations on the phenomenon of falsification: history, philosophy, methods and society
3 – Provenance Studies

In this way, Authenticity Studies intends to analyze the methods of study and analysis, as well as the philology, for the attribution and authentication of archaeological and artistic manufacts, to propose new attributions or verify the authenticity of the same, as well as to study the revival of taste and tradition in modern and contemporary society.

Furthermore, Authenticity Studies intends to propose a complete analysis of the phenomenon of falsification, verifying the material results and the economic, social, legal, philosophical and ethical implications. Authenticity Studies analyzes the authentication techniques and methods (humanistic and technological-scientific), the connections with the art market, and the history of collecting, thus also investigating historical fakes and those inserted, over time, in the field museum public and private.

Finally, Authenticity Studies wants to be the forum for discussion and reflection around studies on the provenance and on the reconstruction of the original context of archaeological and art-historical heritage, and the place for discussion on protection practices and on the actions to be taken for the conservation and the safeguarding of authentic Cultural Heritage.

Authors submitting a contribution to Authenticity Studies guarantee the originality of their works, the intellectual property of the contribution and the absence of conflicts of interest or economic interests arising from the publication of the attribution/authentication.

Authenticity Studies does not accept: attribution or authentication researches of objects of uncertain or incorrectly reconstructed provenance (and/or ownership); attributions or authentication of items offered for sale.

Authenticity Studies. International Journal of Archaeology and Art is published annualy.
The publication of the next volume is scheduled for March 2023.

The deadline for articles submissions is July 15th, 2022.

Publication is free of charge.

Submissions should be sent to: authenticity.studies.dbc@unipd.it

Info: luca.zamparo@unipd.it (Managing Editor)

Lecture: ‘Image, Pattern, Repetition: The Craft of Romanesque Sculpture in Southwest England’, by Dr Alex Woodcock, The Courtauld Institute of Art, 21st April 2022, 18:00 GMT

Repetition is a crucial aspect of the Romanesque sculptural repertoire. Geometric patterns are a good example, both visually arresting and highly flexible, able to be used across all manner of architectural features from fonts to doorways to individual carved stones. Their ubiquity, however, coupled with a broader legacy of understanding the decorative as secondary to figurative works, has, perhaps, left a lingering cloud of under-appreciation. Drawing upon material from Devon and Cornwall, English counties rich in daisywheel, palmette, star and many other motifs, this lecture explores how we might consider the nuances of repeated forms and their production. Combined with insights taken from craft processes and working stone it will consider just what repetition – in both process and output – might be able to reveal about the Romanesque southwest and its sculpture, along the way seeking new contexts for little-known works, their producers and patrons.

Dr Alex Woodcock is a writer, tutor and former cathedral stonemason. Following his PhD in medieval sculpture he spent six years working at Exeter Cathedral during which time he contributed to major projects including the conservation of its west front. His written work includes academic articles as well as books aimed at a general readership such as Gargoyles and Grotesques (Bloomsbury, 2011), Of Sirens and Centaurs (Impress, 2013) and King of Dust (Little Toller, 2019). In 2015 his essay on the Romanesque sculpture of Cornwall won the Cardew-Rendle history prize. He teaches on the Cathedrals’ Workshop Fellowship degree and is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Organised by Dr Rose Walker (The Courtauld) and the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland.

Call for Papers: ‘Working from Home: Labour and Worship in the Domestic Sphere’, University of Edinburgh, 25th June 2022 (Deadline 29th April 2022)

The Late Antique and Medieval Postgraduate Society (LAMPS) at the University of Edinburgh is hosting a one-day conference with the theme ‘Working from Home: Labour and worship in the domestic sphere’, taking place virtually on Blackboard Collaborate on the provisional date of Saturday June 25th. This conference seeks to explore texts, events, and ideas that exist between and beyond traditional boundaries, and to further our understanding of a complex Late Antique and Medieval period that cannot be easily categorised and contained. It also aims to strengthen interdisciplinary connections within and outside of the University of Edinburgh, including but not limited to the fields of Archaeology, History, Classics, History of Art, Literature, Language Studies, Islamic Studies, and Theology.

LAMPS welcome submissions for papers on the theme of ‘Working from Home: Labour and worship in the domestic sphere’ and hope to engage with a wider audience by providing a forum for postgraduate and early career scholars to present their research. Submissions for abstracts may include, but are certainly not limited to:

Family and community
Local law and order
The domestic environment
Superstition and storytelling
Personal and community worship
Monastic labour and lifestyles
Social history
Labour and revolution
Heresy and degeneracy

Early career scholars and postgraduate students are invited to submit abstracts of up to 200 words for a twenty-minute paper, as well as a short biography of up to 100 words to lampsedinburgh@gmail.com by 29 April, 2022.

Symposium: ‘Rethinking the Wearable in the Middle Ages’, Bard Graduate Center and Online, 28th-29th April 2022

Covering, protecting, and adorning the body count among the most fundamental of human concerns, at once conveying aspects of an individual’s persona while also situating a person within a given social context. Wearable adornment encompasses materials fashioned by human hands (like fabric, metalwork, or even animal bones) and modifications to the body itself (such as tattoos, cosmetics, or hairstyles), which beautify the body while simultaneously conveying social, political, and protective functions and meanings. The wearable is thus the most representational and at the same time most intimate product of material culture.

This conference seeks to expand our current understanding of the wearable in the Middle Ages. Current scholarship on the topic in Byzantine, western medieval, Eurasian art, as well as Islamic traditions tends to encompass clothing and jewelry, and is frequently medium-specific, with minimal regard to the interrelatedness of different aspects of appearance. On the one hand, work on medieval textiles has tended to approach questions of identity, consumption, and appearance by comparing textual sources and visual depictions with surviving textiles. The study of medieval jewelry, on the other hand, largely focuses on the classification and attribution of precious metal pieces from excavations and museum collections, as scholars make sense of pieces long removed from the bodies they once adorned. Tattoos, prosthetics, cosmetics and headgear are almost entirely absent in our understandings of medieval dress practices. This separation was not always so, however, and indeed nineteenth-century art historians such as Gottfried Semper integrated all aspects of bodily adornment in their considerations of the nature of ornamentation and surface decoration.

Programme:

Thursday, April 28, 1:30–6:15 pm

1:30 pm

Peter N. Miller
Bard Graduate Center
Welcome

Elizabeth Dospel Williams
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Ittai Weinryb
Bard Graduate Center
Introduction

2 pm

Alicia Walker
Bryn Mawr College
“Christian Bodies Clothed in Pagan Bodies: The Implications of Greco-Roman Mythological Imagery on Early Byzantine Items of Dress and Adornment”

Zvezdana Dode
Nasledie Institute
“The Robe of Honor and the Belt of Submission in the Mongolian Imperial Culture”

Q&A and Discussion

3:30 pm
Coffee Break

4 pm

Eiren Shea
Grinnell College
“Clothing the Khatun: Mongol Women’s Dress and Political Power”

Juliane von Fircks
Friedrich Schiller University Jena
“To Adorn the Dead Body: The Representation of the Deceased Prince in and outside the Grave (13th–15th Centuries)”

Cecily J. Hilsdale
McGill University
“Crowns and the Situating of Authority”

Q&A and Discussion

Friday, April 29, 9:30 am–5 pm

9:30 am

Corinne Mühlemann
University of Copenhagen, Centre for Textile Research
“From Moon To Fish: A Striped Silk as Ṭilasm”

Cynthia Hahn
Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY
“The Medieval ‘Safety’ Pin”

Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie
University of Gießen
“Putting the Empress’s Neck on the Line: The Materiality of Imperial Neck Ornamentation in Byzantium”

Q&A and Discussion

12 pm
Lunch Break

1 pm

Sarah Laursen
Harvard Art Museums
“Out of Place and Out of Sight: Ornaments from Medieval China in American Collections”

Meredyth Lynn Winter
Colgate University; Philadelphia Museum of Art
“Dressing for Paradise: A Consideration of Designs & Materials Befitting Islamic Burial Clothing”

Q&A and Discussion

2:30 pm
Coffee Break

3 pm

Ashley Elizabeth Jones
University of Florida
“Wearable Matter”

Ivan Drpić
University of Pennsylvania
“The Burdened Body: Devotional Jewelry and the Weight of the Sacred”

Q&A and Discussion

4:30 pm
Conclusion

Please register here.

Conference: ‘The Book at the Bodleian: Whence, Where, Whither?’, University of Oxford, 25th April 2022, 11:00-18:00 GMT

For twenty years, the Lyell benefaction has funded a career development fellowship that has enabled scholars to study subjects that have included the History of the Book, bibliography and palaeography. At “The Book at the Bodleian”, these nine Lyell Fellows come together for the first time to reflect on developments in their respective fields and present their current research.

To view the full programme, click here.

To register, please click here.

Conference: ‘The Presence of the Object: A Colloquium in Honour of Charles T. Little’, Columbia University and Online, 5th – 6th May 2022

Originally scheduled for April 2020 and twice postponed due to pandemic restrictions for in-person gatherings, the colloquium will take place as a hybrid event with speakers gathering at Columbia University and talks broadcast via Zoom. Depending on pandemic protocols in place at the time of the colloquium in early May, it may be possible for us to accommodate a limited number of participants in the lecture hall at Columbia University. If you are interested in attending the keynote lecture (May 5) and/or colloquium (May 6) in person, please indicate your preference as part of the Zoom registration process (see below). The conveners are also hoping to be able to hold a small reception in honor of Chuck Little at the Cloisters following the keynote lecture on May 5, at 6pm. If you are interested in attending the reception, please indicate your preference as part of the keynote lecture registration. The conveners will fill available slots for in-person attendance and participation in the reception in the order of registrations received.

To register for Paul Williamson’s keynote lecture on May 5, 2022, at 4:30pm ET, please click here.

To register for the talks delivered as part of the Colloquium on May 6, 2022, 9:30–5pm, please click here.

Online Lecture: ‘Lacunae of Art History and Kyiv’s Visual Culture’, by Olenka Z. Pevny, 22nd April 2022, 17:00 GMT

REGISTER

Dr. Olenka Z. Pevny is Associate Professor of Slavic and Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. She is a cultural historian of medieval Rus’ and early modern Ukraine. Her primary research focuses on the place of visual culture in the shaping of premodern and modern identities. Dr. Pevny is the author of numerous articles on Byzantine, Rus’, and Ukrainian baroque culture. She also writes on nineteenth century and Soviet cultural restoration practices.

This lecture is part of a series of events co-organized by Dumbarton Oaks in collaboration with North of Byzantium and Connected Central European Worlds, 1500–1700. Ukraine’s history, art, and culture are endangered by the ongoing war. This lecture and conversation series by experts in the fields of history, art history, archaeology, heritage, sociology, as well as museums and conservation, among others, presents the region’s rich historical and cultural complexity through its objects, sites, and monuments. A focus on the medieval and early modern periods featuring Greek, Latin, and Slavic contacts brings to the fore critical evidence to counter modern misrepresentations of Ukraine’s history and cultural heritage.

Call for Papers: ‘Corpus pictuarum muralium medii aevi’, 1st – 2nd September 2022 (Deadline 30th April)

Since 1 September 2020, the Scientific Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU) has led the research project titled Transformations – from Material to Virtual. Digital Corpus of Mural Painting – New Dimensions of Medieval Art Research in Slovenia. The project partner is the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ljubljana. The project’s main goal is to set up an online scientific corpus of medieval mural painting in Slovenia with the universal title Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi. Within this project, we are developing a corpus of mural paintings in Slovenia until circa 1380, which will be expanded with further projects to include paintings until around 1500. Another project objective is to organise an international conference on medieval mural painting at the transition between the Romanesque and Gothic style, the creation of medieval art heritage corpora, and various aspects of medieval art analysis with an international discussion about the establishment of the joint international database Corpus picturarum muralium medii aevi.

The transition between the first two universal European art periods – the Romanesque and the Gothic – has been a major research topic for a long time. Nevertheless, this transition still represents an enormous methodological challenge, even in the field of mural painting. Outside its homeland of France, the Gothic style asserted itself very gradually and through various paths, spreading throughout the rest of Europe and even beyond. The characteristics of this expansion can be gleaned precisely from the mural paintings dating back to this period – particularly in the case of buildings that would later be heavily reconstructed and whose movable furnishings (table paintings, altars, manuscripts, reliquaries, etc.) have been long lost. Especially the examples from Central Europe, featuring phenomena such as the zig-zag style and the often robust Romanesque tradition up to the 14th century, indicate that the process of the Gothic style reception was exceedingly complex. The medieval late Romanesque and (early) Gothic mural painting thus calls for a constant questioning of the established hypotheses and a broadening of the methodological and increasingly also technological approaches – both in the fields of interpretation and discovery as well as conservation, restoration, and documentation. The advances in the field of digital humanities, in particular the creation of digital databases that facilitate the overview of such dispersed subjects, also play an increasingly important role in medieval mural painting research.

Therefore, the upcoming conference aims to open a discussion on the new approaches to the study of medieval mural painting and seek answers to questions such as: how do the discoveries of new paintings or the development of new approaches expand on the ideas about the iconographic and stylistic profile of mural painting between the Romanesque and the Gothic periods? To what extent do new technologies or their increased availability influence research? What has been the experience in creating and linking (digital) corpora of medieval art heritage? What is the significance of discovering, exhibiting, and reinterpreting medieval mural paintings in the broader political context of the 20th century in particular?

The proposed topics may include but are not necessarily limited to the following:
– new medieval mural painting research discoveries;
– spatial or visual references of medieval mural paintings to other art genres;
– new discoveries about the roles of artists, commissioners, and reception;
– comparative analyses with other periods and regions (the influences of Byzantine, Islamic, and other art);
– new technical methods for research, discovery, restoration, documentation, etc.;
– issues related to collecting, editing, and presenting research in the digital media;
– digital corpora of medieval wall paintings;
– new overviews and outlooks on the history of medieval mural painting research;
– reception of mural painting between the Romanesque and Gothic styles in the subsequent periods;
– broader socio-political analysis of mural paintings in the context of the 20th-century medieval art research.

Proposals for contributions in the English language and approximately 20 minutes long, consisting of a title and an abstract not exceeding 250 words, should be sent together with a short CV of no more than a single page to cfp.uifs@zrc-sazu.si, by 30 April 2022. The selection is expected to be completed by 30 June 2022.

Organisers:
Assistant Professor Dr Mija Oter Gorenčič, ZRC SAZU, France Stele Institute of Art History, Ljubljana, and Faculty of Arts, University of Maribor
Assistant Professor Dr Gašper Cerkovnik, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana

Seminar: ‘Configuring the Monastic Space: Early Medieval Experiments’, University of Milan and Online, 21st April – 3rd May 2022

The planimetric and functional standardization of monastic architectural settings is an achievement of the Romanesque period. During the early Middle Ages, monastic settlements were shaped through the progressive aggregation of spaces; pre-existencing structures and different levels of resources or skills often affected constructions. This approach led to a diversity of forms, sizes, site plans, and functions, though the latter also reflected differing liturgical customs. The workshop will explore this architectural experimentation, seeking to identify, and to contextualize, similarities, differences, and trends.

AGENDA:

Seminars will be held both at the University of Milan and in streaming (link available here: unimi.academia.edu/FabioScirea )

21.04.2022 – 10.30-12.00: Federico Marazzi (Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa), Indipendenza e interdipendenza: l’insediamento monastico tra desiderio di separatezza e necessità di connessione con il mondo.

26.04.2022 – 12.30-14.00: Stella Ferrari (Università degli Studi di Milano), Esperimenti urbani: insediamenti e spazi nei monasteri femminili.

28.04.2022 – 10.30-12.00: Fabio Scirea (Università degli Studi di Milano), Gli spazi monastici dell’insediamento di Torba, presso Castelseprio

03.05.2022 – 12.30-14.00, aula K 31: Eleonora Destefanis (Università del Piemonte orientale), Monasteri altomedievali del Piemonte: strutture materiali e organizzazione degli spazi.