As part of the research activities within the MEMID project (see below, under “Patronage/Sponsor”),
aiming to create moments of discussion with scholars of various nationalities and research fields,
MEMID would like to submit a session to annual International Medieval Congress, organised and hosted by the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. In 2022 the special thematic strand will be ‘Borders’: the aim of this panel is to gather papers investigating the boundaries between re-employment and collecting of medieval sculpture during the Modern Age (roughly 15th-18th centuries).

The Middle Ages is the era in which long-term structures – civic, religious, familiar, but also
administrative, legal and political – were created. They have assumed a strong identity value,
contributing to the formation of the present historical and architectural heritage with which
subsequent eras had necessarily to confront. The “long life” of medieval sculpture, through practices
of reuse and rearrangement in the course of the following centuries, represents therefore a
phenomenon of great cultural vitality that deserves to be investigated as a process, with its complex
dynamics. When not merely utilitarian, it testifies, in fact, the desire for “appropriation” by artists
and patrons of the specific symbolic values related to the the artwork, although sometimes the new
arrangements serve purposes, functions and values completely different from the original ones,
often accompanied by a complete resemantization and reworking interventions.
The exposition of reused sculptures in decorative and monumental contexts of a certain complexity
can sometimes be assimilated to a “collection” of artworks, inspired by the desire to convey precise
and emblematic messages related to processes of social affirmation, cultural transformations,
institutional claims. This session aims to investigate the permeability and limits between the
phenomena of reuse and “collecting” of medieval sculptures in the Modern Age (roughly 15th-18th
centuries) through the analysis of significant case studies.

Patronage / Sponsor:
The proposed panel is part of the activities of the project Memoria e identità. Riuso, rilavorazione e
riallestimento della scultura medievale in Età moderna, tra ricerca storica e nuove tecnologie (
Memory and identity. Reuse, reworking and rearrangement of the Medieval sculpture in the Modern Age between historical research and new technologies) (MEMID) funded by the Italian Ministery for University and Research (FISR funds = Fondo integrativo speciale per la ricerca / Special supplementary fund for research, 2021-2023). Project coordinators: Laura Cavazzini (Università degli Studi di Trento), Clario Di Fabio (Università degli Studi di Genova), Paola Vitolo (Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”)

Paper proposals should be sent to both organizers, Antonella Dentamaro
(antonella.dentamaro@gmail.com) and Francesca Girelli (girellif@gmail.com), by August 31, 2021,
and must include:

• Full name
• email address
• Full affiliation details (department, institution) if applicable
• Paper title
• Abstract (250 words max.)
• Keywords
• Brief bio (300 words max.)

Papers may be submitted in English, Italian or French. Applicants will be notified by September 15,
2021. The panel (articulated in three papers, each of 20 minutes, and 10 minutes for discussion) will be submitted to the Institute for Medieval Studies of Leeds by September 31, 2021. It is the Institute’s present intention to host the congress in-person; but we can require that our session will be delivered in person, virtually, or a combination of the two.

Information about registration fees: https://www.imc.leeds.ac.uk/register-2021/prices/.

The prophet Elijah is one of the most venerated figures in both Jewish and Christian traditions. Although the account of his deeds (1 and 2 Kings) offered ample material for exegesis, art historiography has paid little attention to the representation of Elijah’s story in late antique and medieval visual culture (ca. 3rd–15th centuries). This session aims to reassess the development of the prophet’s cult in different periods and religious contexts by gathering new evidence for the pictorial articulation of his narrative cycles.

Already in the 3rd-century CE, the mural decoration of the synagogue at Dura-Europos comprised a significant selection of episodes which affirmed the Tishbite’s capacity for performing miracles as a divine confirmation of his prophetic ministry. Later on, in medieval Byzantium, the supernatural powers of controlling the weather and raising the dead became a crucial element of Elijah’s profile as a thaumaturge saint. Moreover, his ascetical life was interpreted as a monastic archetype, usually regarded alongside the exemplum of John the Forerunner. In this new devotional context, the visual narrative of the prophet’s life was reshaped as a proper hagiographical cycle, a change simultaneously attested by 13th-century Balkan frescoes and Russian icons. Additionally, during the Middle Ages, certain scenes from Elijah’s story, such as the prophet being nourished by a raven or an angel, were equally used as autonomous elements of broader iconographic programs, acquiring multiple theological and liturgical meanings. A comparative analysis of these occurrences is still lacking.

Therefore, the main scope of this session is to stimulate research towards a more refined understanding of the circulation of biblical and hagiographical traditions correlated with the prophet Elijah. Bringing together a wide range of iconographic material and relating it to existing bibliography about homiletic texts and hymnography, this session will address a fundamental question about how images dynamically negotiated Jewish spiritual heritage in different areas of late antique and medieval Christendom. Proposed papers may include, but are not limited to:

• Local iconographic versions of Elijah’s narrative in East and West (3rd–15th centuries)
• The use of autonomous episodes from the prophet’s life in different iconographic contexts
• Jewish elaborations on Elijah’s legend
• Elijah as a model of monastic life in Christian texts and images
• The integration of Elijah’s image in the series of Old Testament figures (e. g. the selection of prophets in middle and late Byzantine domes)
• Elijah and the widow of Sarepta: a gender perspective

Each speaker will be given 20 minutes to present his/her paper. Please send abstracts of maximum 400 words, together with a short presentation, to the organizers: Dr. Barbara Crostini (crostini.barbara@gmail.com) and Andrei Dumitrescu (andreidumitres@gmail.com).
The deadline to submit papers is 10th September 2021.

Full information can be found here: https://wmich.edu/medievalcongress/call