Medieval Art Research

Online Publication: ‘Towards an Art History of the Parish Church, 1200-1399’, edited by Meg Bernstein

Estimated at numbering between eight and nine thousand, parish churches containing at least some medieval building fabric are ubiquitous in the English landscape. Yet, despite their quotidian familiarity, parish churches have not, by and large, been treated consistently or systematically as deserving of the attention of art historical study. The ten diverse essays contained within this open-access volume explore the art and architecture of parish churches through a variety of lenses, methodologies, and perspectives, ranging from (re)considerations of the very definition of the parish church to phenomenological explorations of their component parts, as well as case studies of their decorative schemes. An Afterword by Paul Binski reflects upon his 1999 essay, ‘The English Parish Church and its Art in the Later Middle Ages: A Review of the Problem’ and considers the place of anthropology in our developed study of the parish church.

The entire ebook is available to view and download as a PDF here.

Online Conference: Seals and Society in the Medieval World, Byzantine Studies Virtual Colloqium, 29th October 2021, 9:00 – 16:15 EST

To mark the completion of the Dumbarton Oaks Online Catalogue of Byzantine Seals in 2021, Dumbarton Oaks is hosting a colloquium to explore the production, function, inscriptions, iconographic designs, and significance of seals. Building on the instant accessibility to the Byzantine seals collection and the research possibilities made available by the online catalogue, this colloquium invites scholars working on seals from Byzantine, European, and Middle Eastern medieval contexts to discuss and engage with each other’s material and to bring innovative, comparative perspectives to a specialized discipline entering a new phase.

The use and role of seals—documentary, diplomatic, literary, metaphorical, apotropaic, astrological, and medical—were contingent upon specific notions of materiality and representation. Seals were thus dynamic agents in cultural encounters. The materials, manufacture, and types of seals in the cultures within the colloquium’s scope, as well as their meanings and usages, were quite different from one another, and scholars have taken different approaches to their study and publication. Western seals tended to display more complex images with simple inscriptions, whereas in the Byzantine world texts of varying length and complexity often accompanied rich iconographic content. Equally different are the contexts in which seals from the different parts of the medieval world are found today and studied. Byzantine seals tend to be found detached from their original documents, in museum collections or archaeological contexts, whereas western seals are found in archival repositories, and their study is more likely linked to the fields of diplomatics, literacy, and documentary practices.

Colloquiarchs: Brigitte Miriam Bedos-Rezak (New York University), Eric McGeer (Dumbarton Oaks), and Jonathan Shea (Dumbarton Oaks)

Speakers

John Cotsonis (His Grace Bishop Joachim of Amissos), Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Christopher Mielke, Beverly Heritage Center
Elizabeth New, Prifysgol Aberystwyth University
Markus Späth, Justus Liebig University Giessen
Christos Stavrakos, University of Ioannina
Nicholas Vincent, University of East Anglia
Laura J. Whatley, Auburn University at Montgomery
Mustafa Yıldız, University of California, Berkley

A complete programme can be found here. To register, click here.

Online Workshop: Information Session on Applying to Graduate School for Medieval Art History, 30th October 2021 12:30-1:30 EST

From the International Center of Medieval Art:

‘This event is for prospective students who are planning on, interested in, or even slightly nervous about applying to study medieval art history at an MA/PhD program in the United States. Current faculty and graduate students at a variety of institutions from the East Coast to the West Coast will discuss how to apply to graduate programs and what it is like to study medieval art history at the graduate level today. There will be time for prospective students to ask questions as well.

Our panelists include Jennifer Borland (Professor, Oklahoma State University); Maggie Crosland (Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis Art Museum); Sarah Guérin (Asst. Professor, University of Pennsylvania), Maile Hutterer (Assoc. Professor, University of Oregon), and Meseret Oldjira (PhD Candidate, Princeton University).’

Attendees do not need to be ICMA members. Register here.

Online Study Day: MedievalWiki Training Workshop and Social Editing Session, 29 October 2021, 13:30-15:00 BST

This workshop is for brand new and experienced Wikipedia editors who are interested in improving Wikipedia according to the aims of MedievalWiki (on which, see below).

We will gather on Zoom and introduce newcomers to the MedievalWiki project and how to get started with editing. This will be a relaxed and informal workshop, designed to build the confidence of new and new-ish editors and to provide a social space for more experienced editors.

If you can’t make the whole two hours, feel free to drop in just for the first or the second hour (let us know when you book when you plan to stop by).

MedievalWiki is a project to improve the quality of medieval articles on Wikipedia (and related projects including Wikimedia and Wikidata). The project is specifically dedicated to making and editing articles with citations to medieval scholars whose work is indebted to or develops feminist, queer, and critical race studies methods and theories. Making and editing biographical pages for Black medievalists and medievalists of colour, women and non-binary and queer medieval scholars, and artists whose work remakes the medieval is firmly within the MedievalWiki remit.

Please send any questions to Dr Fran Allfrey francesca.allfrey@kcl.ac.uk

Online Lecture: ‘Seeing in the Dark’, Dr Tom Nickson, UCL Research Seminar Series, NOW POSTPONED TO 10 FEBRUARY 2022, 6PM LONDON TIME

‘In this exploratory paper I consider the long history of seeing in the dark, from cave painting to Zoom lectures. Focusing especially on what was once known as the ‘Dark Ages’, I seek to counter whiggish histories of enlightenment, and explore how art and architecture are and were commonly produced and experienced in darkness or half-light. How have new technologies helped to efface histories of darkness? How, despite this, does darkness still create powerful ‘occasions’ for viewing? And to what extent does artificial light diminish modern encounters and interpretations of artworks and spaces?’

Registration is free but required. Click here to register.

Call for submissions: Reginald Taylor & Lord Fletcher Essay Prize, British Archaeological Association (Deadline 1 December 2021)

The British Archaeological Association invites submissions for the Reginald Taylor & Lord Fletcher Essay Prize, awarded biennially for the best unpublished essay submitted on aspects of the art, architecture or archaeology of Europe or the Mediterranean from the Roman era to the Middle Ages, or their study.

The prize consists of a bronze medal and a cheque for £500, and prize-winning essays are commonly published in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association (subject to approval via peer review). The essay should represent original and rigorous research and should normally be no longer than 8,000 words, not including footnotes. Through this prize the BAA seeks to recognize developing researchers (of any age), so those who already have a substantial publication record are ineligible to apply.

Essays (including illustrations) should be submitted as a single PDF file, and sent as an attachment to tom.nickson@courtauld.ac.uk. Further details are available at https://thebaa.org/scholarships-awards/reginald-taylor-lord-fletcher-essay-prize/

The deadline to submit essays is midnight on 1 December 2021.

Online Conference: British Archaeological Association Postgraduate Conference, 24–25 November 2021

We are excited to present a diverse conference which includes postgraduates and early career researchers in the fields of medieval history of art, architecture, and archaeology. The British Archaeological Association postgraduate conference offers an opportunity for research students at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present their research and exchange ideas.

This year the conference will take place online via Zoom across two days. Whilst we would love to host the conference in-person, the silver lining is that we are able to have scholars and academics across the world attend and present their work.

Conference Programme

Wednesday 24th November 2021

1:00–1:10 pm (GMT)

Welcome

Space, Place, and Language in Medieval Architecture

1:10–2:30 pm (GMT)

Paro Tomar (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Mosque Building By Artisanal Communities in Western India – Thirteenth to Seventeenth Centuries C.E

Alfie Robinson (University of York), ‘Like, or Better’: Building Contracts and Late-Medieval Perceptions of Quality in Architecture

Michele Guida Conte (Independent Scholar), Liturgical spaces in Vicentine churches between the 13th and the 15th centuries

2:30–2:45 pm (GMT)

Break

Marginalised Communities

2:45–3.45 pm (GMT)

Aitor Boada-Benito (Complutense University, Madrid), Natural landscape and Christian communities in the Sasanian Empire: How martyrs and environment developed a religious identity

Sophie Johnson (University of Bristol), Marginalised in medieval Europe: the underrepresentation of women artists in the history of medieval art

3:45–4:00 pm (GMT)

Break

Materiality and Devotion

4:00–5:20 pm (GMT)

Emily Fu (University of Edinburgh), Real Presences: Late Medieval Wood Sculpted Crucifixions

Soyoung Joo (Courtauld Institute of Art), Flaying and Identity c.1500: Skin as Text, Surface, and Clothing

Andy Earnshaw (Oxford University), Her Final Gift: Revealing Cultural Memory and Emotion in a 12th Century Jet Cross from St John’s Priory, Pontefract

5:20 pm (GMT)

End

Thursday 25th November 2021

1:00–1:10 pm (GMT)

Welcome

Materiality, Memory, and Identity

1:10–2:10 pm (GMT)

Dr Ellora Bennett (Independent Scholar), One will die young’: Juvenile weapon burials and processing loss in early medieval England

Dr Julia Faiers (University of St Andrews), Bishop Louis d’Amboise and the invisible tomb: constructing piety in Albi cathedral

2:10–2:20 pm (GMT)

Break

Iconography and Devotion

2:20–3.20 pm (GMT)

Wiktoria Muryn (University of Glasgow), Holy (Mis)conceptions: Late Medieval Depictions of the Visitation Featuring the Occupied Womb and their Female Monastic Audience

Daria Melnikov (Queen’s University), The Guthlac Roll: Artwork and Model Book, circa 1200–1300

3:20–3:30 pm (GMT)

Break

The Building and the City

3:30–4:30 pm (GMT)

Francesca Rognoni & Filippo Gemelli (IUAV – University of Venice and Università degli studi di Pavia), The Use of Westbau in Medieval Architecture in Central Italy: new data for the façade of Ascoli Cathedral

Dr Rafia Khan (Nirma University, Ahmedabad), Monument and Monumentality in the Medieval Islamic City: Perspectives from the City and Province of Chanderi

4:30pm (GMT)

Closing remarks

See the full programme here.Download

Job Opportunity: Assistant Professor in Medieval European History, Union College (Deadline 15 November 2021)

The History Department at Union College invites applications for a tenure-track appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in Medieval European History, c. 500-1400, (including Medieval Mediterranean History and/or Islamic World). The applicant should be conversant in the methods of digital history. A demonstrated potential for successful research and publication is highly desirable. This position will begin in Fall 2022, conditional upon budgetary capacity.

The successful applicant will be expected to develop coursework a) in European history from c. 500 to 1400, including the Renaissance; b) focused on transcultural commercial, religious, and intellectual contacts/exchanges, primarily in the fields stated above, with courses in the Islamic World being particularly desirable; and c) in digital history. Other curricular responsibilities will include offering a junior seminar for majors; supervision of the two-term senior project; and participation in the college’s general education curriculum. Involvement in the Religious Studies Program and/or interdisciplinary programs is anticipated. The normal teaching load at Union College is six courses over three trimesters.

Fellowship: 2022-2023 Berenson Fellowship, I Tatti (Deadline 15 November 2021)

The Berenson Fellowship is designed for scholars who explore “Italy in the World”. Projects should address the transnational dialogues between Italy and other cultures (e.g. Latin American, Mediterranean, African, Asian etc.) during the Renaissance, broadly understood historically to include the period from the 14th to the 17th century.

It is named after Bernard Berenson, who in his 1956 statement ‘On the Future of I Tatti’ expressed the hope that not only would scholars come from many countries, but that they would also travel in “what was the ancient Oecumene, not going farther East than the Euphrates and not farther South than Egypt and the great desert of North Africa” and be intimately acquainted with the Mediterranean countries and their “Hinterland”. Taking a broad geographic view of the Renaissance more than half a century ago, Berenson was a pioneer of the geographically expansive approach to the early modern world that this Fellowship wishes to encourage. Scholars working in all the fields supported by I Tatti—architecture and the arts, history, philosophy, literature, music and history of science—are encouraged to apply.

I Tatti offers Fellows the precious time they need to pursue their studies with a minimum of obligations and interruptions together with a maximum of scholarly resources—a combination that distinguishes the Harvard Center from similar institutions. Each year, a limited number of activities organized at I Tatti are reserved for the Fellows, and they are expected to join the wider community at conferences, lectures, and concerts.

This is a residential fellowship of 4 or 6 months in length. Up to four fellowships will be awarded every year. In light of the residential nature of the fellowship, Fellows must live in the Florence area and spend at least three days a week at the Center.

At the time of application, scholars must have a PhD in hand. They may not be working on a second PhD at the time of application. Applicants must be conversant in English and have familiarity with Italian. Priority will be given to early and mid-career scholars. I Tatti welcomes applications from scholars from all nations and gives special consideration to candidates without regular access to research materials and facilities in Italy.

For complete information and to apply, click here.

Call for Papers: Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Saint Louis University, 20-22 June 2022 (Deadline 31st December 2021)

The Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies (June 20-22, 2022) will be held in person in beautiful Saint Louis, Missouri. This summer venue in North America provides scholars the opportunity to present papers, organize sessions, participate in roundtables, and engage in interdisciplinary discussion. The goal of the Symposium is to promote serious scholarly investigation into all topics and in all disciplines of medieval and early modern studies.

The plenary speakers for this year will be David Abulafia, of Cambridge University, and Barbara Rosenwein, of Loyola University, Chicago.

The Symposium is held annually on the beautiful midtown campus of Saint Louis University. On campus housing options include affordable, air-conditioned apartments as well as a luxurious boutique hotel. Inexpensive meal plans are also available, although there is a wealth of restaurants, bars, and cultural venues within easy walking distance of campus. While attending the Symposium, participants are free to use the Vatican Film Library, the Rare Book and Manuscripts Collection, and the general collection at Saint Louis University’s Pius XII Memorial Library.

The Ninth Annual Symposium on Medieval and Renaissance Studies invites proposals for papers, complete sessions, and roundtables. Any topics regarding the scholarly investigation of the medieval and early modern world are welcome. Papers are normally twenty minutes each and sessions are scheduled for ninety minutes. Scholarly organizations are especially encouraged to sponsor proposals for complete sessions.

The deadline for all submissions is December 31, 2021. Late submissions will be considered if space is available. Decisions will be made in January and the final program will be published in February.
For more information or to submit your proposal online go to: https://www.smrs-slu.org/