Exhibition Closing: Lumen: The Art and Science of Light,The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Until 8 December 2024

December 1, 2024

Exhibition Closing

Lumen: The Art and Science of Light

Until December 8, 2024

The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA

*Astronomers on Mount Athos* (detail), in *The Travels of Sir John Mandeville*, about 1400–1425, Master of the Mandeville Travels. Tinted ink on parchment. The British Library Collection, Add. 24189, fol. 15. Image © The British Library Board

Featured Exhibition in the PST ART: Art & Science Collide series.

To be human is to crave light. We rise and sleep according to the rhythms of the sun, and have long associated light with divinity. Focusing on the arts of western Europe, Lumen explores the ways in which the science of light was studied by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers, theologians, and artists during the “long Middle Ages” (800-1600 CE). During this period science (or the study of the physical universe) served as the connective thread for diverse cultures across Europe and the Mediterranean, uniting scholars who inherited, translated, and improved upon a common foundation of ancient Greek scholarship. Several contemporary artworks, including special installations by Helen Pashgian and Charles Ross will extend the exhibition’s reach throughout the Museum.

Supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

This exhibition is presented in English and Spanish. Esta exhibición se presenta en inglés y en español.

All exhibitions are included in your free, timed-entry reservation to Getty. Reservations are available six weeks in advance. Please note, there is a fee for parking.

For more information, please visit the link here.

Murray Seminar: The Market for Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts c. 1890-1929 and its Consequences, Laura Cleaver, At Birbeck, University of London, 4 Dec. 2024, 17:00-18:30

December 1, 2024

Murray Seminar

The Market for Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts c. 1890-1929 and its Consequences

Laura Cleaver

4 December 2024, 17:00-18:30

Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square, Birbeck, University of London

Book your place here.

In 1904 Charles Dyson Perrins, whose fortune derived from the Lea & Perrins business that made Worcestershire sauce, bought an illuminated medieval psalter for £5,250. This was an enormous sum at the time (roughly equivalent to £500,000 today) and one of the highest prices paid for a manuscript to that date. The price was justified by the aesthetic qualities of the manuscript and the circumstances of the sale: the book was new to the market, having been in a family collection since the sixteenth century. Another factor may have been the book's English origin. Sydney Cockerell persuaded Perrins both to buy the book and to employ him to write about it. In 1908 Cockerell included the manuscript in his landmark exhibition of illuminated manuscripts held at the Burlington Fine Arts Club. The exhibition was not limited to English manuscripts, but made a 'special effort' to showcase English art. This paper will explore how rising prices for some manuscripts in the early twentieth century were intertwined with ideas about books as objects of national heritage, and the impact of this on the development of both scholarship and collections in Britain, Europe and America.

Contact name: Allison Deutsch

Speaker: Laura Cleaver is Professor of Manuscript Studies at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. From 2019-2024 she was Principal Investigator of the Cultivate MSS project, funded by the European Research Council, which examined the trade in medieval manuscripts in the first half of the twentieth century. She is currently completing a monograph on the manuscript trade in Britain in the early twentieth century and its impact on the development of collections and scholarship.

Call for Papers: Medieval Art on the Move, The Courtauld Postgraduate Medieval Colloquium 2025 (28 March 2025), London, Due by 20 January 2025

December 1, 2024

Call for Papers

Medieval Art on the Move

The Courtauld Postgraduate Medieval Colloquium 2025

Friday 28 March 2025, London, UK

Due By 20 January 2025

Portable Altar from Avignon, enamel, silver, gold and granite, British Museum (inv. No. 1896,0716.1). © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Now entombed in airless glass vitrines, medieval objects in museums appear static and immovable. But in the Middle Ages, artworks were active and mobile: they were manipulated in the hand, processed through towns, and traded or gifted across very large geographic areas. Viewers were also on the move: they carried artworks on their body or processed alongside them in religious ceremonies. Merchants, soldiers, and pilgrims travelled to new places and brought artworks home with them. This colloquium will explore medieval artworks as sites of sophisticated meaning-making through the theme of movement, on small and large scales. Medieval works of art were often moved during ritual, and many artworks also integrated moving parts, such as wings or other hinged elements. In a broader context, artworks could travel huge distances, acquiring new significances as they transgressed political, cultural and religious borders. The Silk Roads exhibition currently open at the British Museum speaks to such journeys, presenting the people and objects travelling along overlapping and expansive networks of trade, and asking how these movements shaped meanings and cultures both along the way and at their destinations. To that end, the colloquium looks to open new dialogues regarding the movement of medieval artworks, initiating discussions on how it affected an object’s reception.

We invite submissions for 20-minute papers that investigate the impact of movement on objects and their audiences. Respondents might consider themes including but by no means limited to:

The vehicles or mechanisms by which medieval objects moved across geographic and cultural boundaries, such as gifting, trade, theft, or war
Processions and ritual, versus more informal movements
Distance and proximity
Motion and stillness
Intercultural exchanges and movement of ideas

We invite PhD candidates to submit an up to 250-word paper proposal and title, a short CV, together with their complete contact details (full name, email, and institutional affiliation) by 20th January 2025. Please send these to both Sophia Adams (sophia.adams@courtauld.ac.uk) and Natalia Muñoz-Rojas (natalia.munoz-rojas@courtauld.ac.uk).

There may be some limited funding to support travel and accommodation costs for those without institutional support. If you would require funding support, please include a brief budget alongside your abstract.

For a PDF of the Call for Papers and more information, click here.

Lecture: A Life Among Medieval Book of Hours, Christopher de Hamel, Bruges Public Library, 6 December 2024 7.30-9.00pm

December 1, 2024

Lecture

A Life Among Medieval Book of Hours

Christopher de Hamel

6 December 2024 - 7.30-9.00pm

Bruges Public Library (Reading Room), Belgium

On 6 December we will welcome Christopher de Hamel in Bruges for an evening lecture followed by a drinks reception.

With his extensive experience as the librarian of the Parker Library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and as an auction expert at Sotheby’s, Christopher de Hamel is a leading authority on medieval manuscripts. He became widely known to the public through his award-winning book Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, in which he revisits famous manuscripts from multiple perspectives, uncovering surprising new insights. This makes him the perfect advocate for the multidisciplinary vision of Mmmonk School!

Christopher de Hamel will tell a little of his life among medieval manuscripts, especially encounters with manuscripts illuminated in Flanders, often for export, and why these are important in English and European history. He will follow the migrations of two Bruges Books of Hours of the Use of Sarum now in New Zealand, and will touch on discoveries made while at Sotheby’s, including finding the Spinola Hours in 1975, and on work on Simon Bening for several chapters of his book on The Manuscripts Club.

Lecture in English.

5 Euros/ Free for Friends of the Bruges Library / 1 Euro Opportunity Rate Uitpas Brugge

Registration link for Christopher de Hamel on 6 December at Bruges Public Library.

Symposium: Records of Care:informing approaches to the conservation of Britain’s wall paintings, The Courtauld, London, 31 January 2025 9:00-18:30

December 1, 2024

Symposium

Records of Care:
informing approaches to the conservation of Britain’s wall paintings

31 January 2025, 9:00-18:30

Vernon Square Campus, Lecture Theatre 2, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, England

Digitised documentation and images from the National Wall Paintings Survey archive will be made available through a new online catalogue in the Spring (image: The Courtauld)

To book tickets and for more information, click here.

£15.00, concessions available

Hosted in partnership with colleagues at The Church of England, Icon, and English Heritage, this symposium marks the culmination of the first major phase of a grant-funded digitisation project to make the National Wall Paintings Survey publicly accessible through a dynamic new online database.

Begun by Professor David Park at The Courtauld in 1980, the Survey has grown into a vast and internationally important resource, comprising records of all known British medieval wall paintings as well as extensive material on post-medieval schemes of painted decoration. Encompassing photographic records, conservation reports, annotated publications and previously unpublished research, the archive documents the UK’s most lavish courtly and ecclesiastical murals alongside paintings in more humble contexts. Incorporating material bequeathed from the archives of some of the UK’s earliest pioneering conservators, the Survey constitutes an exceptional record of the condition of Britain’s wall paintings and forms an essential point of reference, both for scholars of art history and for those charged with the ongoing care of these works.

This interdisciplinary study day is an opportunity for those working across the field of British wall paintings to reflect upon the evolution of approaches to their study and conservation, and to explore collaborative endeavours which might better inform their future care. Comprising three sessions of short papers from a diverse and engaging line-up of scholars and heritage professionals, the day will conclude with an informal panel discussion around the theme of collaboration.

Organised by Emily Howe (Project Lead, National Wall Paintings Survey at The Courtauld) with Tracy Manning (Cathedral & Church Buildings Department, Church of England), Sarah Pinchin (Chair, Icon Stone & Wall Paintings Group) and Sophie Stewart (Collections Conservation, English Heritage).

Programme:

9.30 – 10.00: Registration opens
Coffee and tea provided

10.00 – 11.15: Session I – Emerging Approaches
Chaired by Caroline Babington, formerly Palace of Westminster

Emily Howe, National Wall Paintings Survey Project,
Towards a national repository for the documentation of wall paintings
Tracy Manning, Cathedral & Church Buildings Department, Church of England,
Managing the care of wall paintings in churches: following the rules and finding good advice
Sophie Stewart, English Heritage,
From the Ministry of Works to English Heritage: conserving the nation’s wall paintings
Mark Perry, Perry Lithgow Partnership,
Wall painting conservation in private practice

11.15 – 11.45: Break
Coffee and tea provided

11.45 – 13.00: Session II – Improving Approaches
Chaired by Jane Spooner, The Courtauld

Kate Giles, Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture, University of York,
Writing on the walls: locating and using historical sources to inform understanding of past conservation practices
Tobit Curteis, Tobit Curteis Associates,
Working with others: wall painting conservation in building projects
Lizzie Woolley, Opus Conservation,
Imaging techniques for the conservator’s toolbox
Stephen Rickerby, Rickerby & Shekede
Focusing conservation aims and requirements

13.00 – 14.00: Lunch
Provided for all attendees with ticket purchase

14.00 – 15.30 Session III – Interdisciplinary Approaches
Chaired by Alixe Bovey, The Courtauld

Miriam Gill, University of Leicester,
Variations and identifications: intersections between conservation and art history
Andrea Kirkham, Andrea Kirkham Conservation,
Recording domestic wall paintings
Florence Eccleston, The Courtauld,
Navigating the challenges of researching wall paintings
Jane Rutherfoord, Rutherfoord Conservation,
‘The Conservator as Art Historian’ and the approach to the wall paintings at Llancarfan
Sophie Godfraind, Historic England,
The role of Historic England in the care of wall paintings

15.30 – 16.00: Break
Coffee and tea provided

16.00 – 17.00 Session IV – Collaborative Approaches
Chaired by Sarah Pinchin, Icon/Historic Royal Palaces

Discussion session, led by a panel of heritage professionals, conservators and conservation scientists.

Participants include:

Jonathan Deeming, Heritage Architect, Purcell,
Helen Howard, Scientific Department, National Gallery,
Katy Lithgow, Formerly Head of Conservation, National Trust,
Peter Martindale, Peter Martindale Conservation
Ruth McNeilage, McNeilage Conservation,
Nigel Walter, Archangel Architects

17.00 to 18.00: Drinks reception

The National Wall Paintings Survey Project is funded by grants from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Pilgrim Trust, and Marc Fitch Fund.

Research Seminar: Hands That Heal, Looks That Kill: Towards a Fabulous History of Marian Architecture, Paul Mellon Centre and Online, 4 December 2024 5-7PM

November 30, 2024

Research Seminar

Hands That Heal, Looks That Kill: Towards a Fabulous History of Marian Architecture

Matthew Reeve

4 December 2024, 5:00 – 7:00 pm

Paul Mellon Centre and Online

Yale University, New Haven, CT

Image caption: The Lady Chapel, Ely Cathedral, Cambridge. Image courtesy of Wikimedia

For tickets, book here.

The Virgin Mary might be said to reign over the arts of later medieval Britain. It is well established that Britain was a fertile centre for Marian devotion during the Middle Ages, with key pilgrimage sites at Glastonbury and Walsingham, and lesser centres across the British Isles. Marian devotion in Britain created new iconographies to celebrate the Virgin such as the Coronation of the Virgin, new categories of manuscript (the Book of Hours) and new architectural typologies in the Lady Chapel.

Focusing on the settings of Marian devotion and their imagery, Matthew describes them as fabulous in two senses: first, they are inspired by fabula or stories, namely the many Marian miracles that frequently informed the making and perception of Marian art and architecture; second, they are fabulous in being – technically speaking – superlatively crafted works of art. The reason for this, Matthew proposes, is found in the very character of the Virgin herself. In her miracles, the Virgin emerges not only as a miraculous fabricator of flawless art and architecture but also as a paradigm of exquisite aesthetic judgment in the later Middle Ages.

Imagined as settings to house the Virgin’s heavenly court, Marian buildings were designed as extensions of the Virgin’s own highly charismatic and overtly glamorous character as the Queen of Heaven.

Professor Matthew M. Reeve FSA FRHistS is a professor of art history at Queen’s University, Canada. He specialises in later medieval art in Northern Europe with a particular focus on Britain, although he also has long-standing interests in the history of architecture in general and the history of sexuality. Working on art in all media, he has published extended accounts of Salisbury and Wells cathedrals, art and architecture in the secular world, the historiography of medieval art and the arts of Marian devotion. He has also explored the afterlife of medieval art and ideas (medievalism) in the oeuvre of Horace Walpole and the Grand Tours of Walpole and his companions, and the heritage of medievalist art and politics in Canadian art and architecture.

Event format and access

The event starts with a presentation lasting around 40mins, followed by Q&A and a free drinks reception. The event is hosted in our Lecture Room, which is up two flights of stairs (there is no lift). The talk will also be streamed online and recording published on our website.

For more informations, visit here.

Conference: Les arts de l’autel médiéval De la genèse des objets aux stratégies muséographiques, Paris, 3-5 February 2025

November 30, 2024

Conference

Les arts de l’autel médiéval De la genèse des objets aux stratégies muséographiques

CRH-EHESS/CNRS / Musée du Louvre

3-5 février 2025 / 3-5 February 2025

Paris, France

In recent years, the TEMPLA inter-university research team has undertaken a project that examines the memory of enduring and evolving cultic practices performed by both religious and lay communities in medieval churches. Drawing upon documentary sources and visual artifacts preserved either in situ or within museum collections, the project adopts a holistic approach to the study of sanctuaries associated with a selection of cathedral sites dating from the 9th to the 15th centuries. This research integrates an analysis of the material contexts of these sanctuaries with a detailed exploration of the artistic elements designed to embellish the altars and their medieval environments. These elements served to venerate and magnify the titular saints and the divine, while also identifying the patrons and creators of the works through heraldic and textual markers.

The study combines investigations into the materiality of architectural structures and visual artifacts with a phenomenological interpretation of the artworks, alongside a liturgical understanding of the specific rites and devotions practiced. Methodologically, the project considers the visual decor of these sacred spaces in relation to the social expectations tied to ritual celebrations. This colloquium has been organized to further develop this conceptual framework, positioning the high altar as the ritual, spiritual, material, and emotional nucleus of every church.

More information, including the schedule, are available at this link.

ICMA in Dallas: 13 December 2024: Visit to the Bridwell Library and exhibition tour of "Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain"

November 25, 2024

Visit to the Bridwell Library and exhibition tour of Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain
Friday 13 December 2024, in person
9:45am–3pm CT
Bridwell Library and Meadows Museum

Register HERE

Schedule of events
9:45 AM: Arrival at Bridwell Library
10:00–11:30 AM: Guided visit led by Arvid Nelsen, Curator of Rare Books & Manuscripts and Librarian for Special Collections
11:45 AM: 5-minute walk to the Meadows Museum
12:00 PM: Brown bag lunch at the Custard Institute, followed by free time to explore the permanent collection
2:00 PM: Tour of Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain, led by Cristina Aldrich
3:00 PM: Explore the museum’s medieval holdings with Cristina Aldrich and/or Amanda Dotseth

Morning Visit: Bridwell Library Begin the day with a guided tour of Bridwell Library’s extraordinary collection of medieval manuscripts and devotional books. The tour will be led by Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Arvid Nelsen. Located on the SMU campus, Bridwell Library is renowned for its resources supporting the study of theology, religion, and history.

Lunch will be provided by the ICMA.

Afternoon Tour: Meadows Museum The afternoon features a tour of the Meadows Museum’s exhibition Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain, led by Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow Cristina Aldrich. This exhibition focuses on the 19th- and 20th-century reception of Spain’s Islamic heritage, with paintings, photographs, drawings, and printed materials reflecting diverse perspectives on the country’s long history of Muslim rule—from the arrival of the Umayyads in the eighth century to the expulsion of the last Nasrid sultan in 1492. Anchoring the exhibition is one of the Meadows Museum’s medieval treasures: a 10th-century marble capital from the palace-city of Madinat al-Zahraʾ, near Córdoba. This exquisite architectural fragment serves as a tangible connection to the medieval past, embodying the material that inspired the 19th-century artists and intellectuals whose works are on display. Together, the medieval and modern objects reveal the complex tension between Spain’s medieval history and its modern reinterpretations.

Closing the Day The day concludes with a tour of the museum’s medieval holdings, showcasing the depth and diversity of Spain’s artistic heritage. Highlights include a recently acquired c. 1500 panel painting of St. Bartholomew by Domingo Ram, a 14th-century Catalan liturgical cabinet, two 12th-century frescoes from San Baudelio de Berlanga on long-term loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, late medieval alabasters by Gil de Siloe, and retablos by Martín de Soria.

Drinks to follow.

Current Exhibition: Medieval Women: In Their Own Words, British Library, London, Until 2 March 2025

November 21, 2024

Current Exhibition

Medieval Women: In Their Own Words

British Library, London

Until 2 March 2025

Our latest exhibition introduces the women of medieval Europe through their own words, visions and experiences. Discover the rich and complex lives of women in the Middle Ages, with over 140 extraordinary items that reveal their artistry, resourcefulness, courage and struggles.

Medieval women’s voices evoke a world in which they lived active and varied lives. Their testimonies speak of diverse experiences, revealing female impact and influence across private, public and spiritual realms, and bringing alive experiences that still resonate today.

This exhibition focuses on Europe from roughly 1100 to 1500, a period in which there was strong cultural interconnection across the continent. While most medieval sources from the period were written by and about men, women’s surviving testimonies offer remarkable insight into their contributions to medieval social and economic life, culture and politics, their skilful management of households and convents, and the vibrancy of female religious culture.

Must-see highlights include:

The Book of the Queen by Christine de Pizan: The first professional woman author in Europe
Sibylle of Flanders' 12th-century ivory cross: Owned by Sibylle, countess of Flanders, who went on Crusade to the Holy Land
A silk textile made in al-Andalus (Islamic Spain), where Muslim women labourers were fundamental to the silk industry
Julian of Norwich’s The Revelations of Divine Love: the first work in English definitely authored by a woman
A 15th-century birthing girdle: a manuscript inscribed with prayers and charms that was used for protection during childbirth
Battel Hall retable a rare surviving painting from a medieval English nunnery
On Women's Cosmetics: a recipe book likely to have been composed in Southern Italy in the 12th century with recipes for hair dye remover, face creams and breath freshener
A lion skull that possibly came from a pet lion of Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England.

Break free from traditional narratives and encounter personalities both famous and forgotten who tell the story of medieval womanhood. And discover stories familiar to women today, from the gender pay gap and harmful stereotypes, to access to healthcare and education, as well as challenges faced by female leaders.

This is the story of medieval women, told in their own words.

Medieval Women: In Their Own Words is supported by Joanna and Graham Barker and Unwin Charitable Trust.

For more information, visit https://www.bl.uk/whats-on/medieval-women/.

Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group Lecture: Casual trip to see the ‘Medieval Women in Their Own Words’ exhibition at the British Library together, 14 December 2024, 12:00PM

November 21, 2024

Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group Lecture

Casual trip to see the ‘Medieval Women in Their Own Words’ exhibition at the British Library together

14 December 2024, 12:00PM

Saint Augustine teaching. Paris, Bibl. Mazarine, MS 616, fol. 1r.

The Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group (OMMG) is a collective of eight postgraduate students and early-career researchers who bonded in Oxford over their passion for medieval manuscripts. We host a seminar series through which we hope to gather a community of emerging scholars, from the University of Oxford and beyond, around the study of medieval books and the art of illumination.

Starting in Hilary Term 2024, OMMG seminars will take place twice monthly on Friday afternoons. We will discuss the most exciting recent research; share our own projects and ideas in a supportive environment; learn from lectures and tutorials given by experienced colleagues; and examine medieval manuscripts together during library visits.

By promoting exchange between scholars with diverse specialisms and different levels of experience, OMMG aims to turn the study of medieval books and illuminations into a more collaborative pursuit. We know that working with manuscripts is often a solitary business, where knowledge is acquired over silent and cautious one-on-one meetings with a delicate object. We want to share the wonder we experience before the material, visual and textual complexity of illuminated codices, as well as the interrogations or frustrations we have as we encounter obstacles in our research. The OMMG seminar series will provide manuscript enthusiasts with a stimulating platform for learning practical and analytical skills from peers as well as experts. We would love you to join us!

To subscribe to our mailing list, participate in library visits, propose a presentation of your research for work-in-progress meetings, or submit any queries, please write to: Elena Lichmanova.

Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group Lecture: Medieval Women in Their Own Words: Curating the British Library Exhibition, Eleanor Jackson, At University of Oxford, 29 November 2024, 5:00PM

November 21, 2024

Oxford Medieval Manuscripts Group Lecture

Medieval Women in Their Own Words: Curating the British Library Exhibition

Eleanor Jackson | British Library

29 November 2024, 5pm

Mure Room, Merton College, University of Oxford

To subscribe to our mailing list, participate in library visits, propose a presentation of your research for work-in-progress meetings, or submit any queries, please write to: Elena Lichmanova.

Medieval Visual Culture Seminar: What Art Does When It’s Doing Nothing: Stillness, Perdurance, and Agency in Medieval Art, Ben Tilghman, At University of Oxford, 5 December 2024, 5:00-6:30PM

November 21, 2024

Lecture Series

Medieval Visual Culture Seminar, University of Oxford, Michaelmas Term 2024

What Art Does When It’s Doing Nothing: Stillness, Perdurance, and Agency in Medieval Art

Ben Tilghman

5 December 2024, 5:00-6:30PM GMT

Arumugam Building 1.2, St Catherine's College, Manor Road OX1 3UJ

Smithfield Decretals, Toulouse (?), c. 1300; London, c. 1340. London, British Library, Royal 10 E IV, fol. 4v. *Image courtesy of Alixe Bovey,* https://medieval.ox.ac.uk/2024/09/25/medieval-visual-culture-seminar/

Ben Tilghman is an Associate Professor of Art History, Washington College & Visiting Research Fellow, University of Edinburgh.

Questions? Contact Nancy Thebaut, Associate Professor, History of Art & Fellow, St Catherine’s College

Call for Applications: 2025-2026 Predoctoral Research Residencies, Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia,” Naples, Due By January 31, 2025

November 21, 2024

Call for Applications

2025-2026 Predoctoral Research Residencies

Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia,” Naples

Due By January 31, 2025

The Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia” (Centro per la Storia dell’Arte e dell’Architettura delle Città Portuali “La Capraia”) was founded in 2018 as a collaboration between the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas, Franklin University Switzerland, and the Amici di Capodimonte.

Housed in “La Capraia,” a rustic eighteenth-century agricultural building at the heart of the Bosco di Capodimonte, the Center engages the Museo di Capodimonte and the city of Naples as a laboratory for new research in the cultural histories of port cities and the mobilities of artworks, people, technologies, and ideas. Global in scope, research at La Capraia is grounded in direct study of objects, sites, collections, and archives in Naples and southern Italy. Through site-based seminars and conferences, collaborative projects with partner institutions, and research residencies for graduate students, La Capraia fosters research on Naples and the south as a site of cultural encounter, exchange, and transformation, and cultivates a network of scholars working at the intersection of the global and the local.

The Advisory Committee of the Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia” invites applications for Predoctoral Research Residencies for PhD students in the earlier stages of their dissertation research. Projects, which may be interdisciplinary, may focus on art and architectural history, archaeology, music history, histories of collecting, the digital humanities, or related fields, from antiquity to the present. Projects should address the cultural histories of Naples and southern Italy as a center of exchange, encounter, and transformation, and, most importantly, make meaningful use of local research materials including artworks, sites, archives, and libraries.

2025-2026 Predoctoral Research Residencies will run from 8 September 2025 through 7 June 2026. Research Residents are granted free lodging at La Capraia (private bedroom/study/bath and communal study/living/kitchen spaces) and a modest stipend of 7,000 EUR, administered by the Amici di Capodimonte, to help defray the cost of living. During their time in Naples, Residents are expected to work on their projects full time and in residence, and to participate in scholarly programs that La Capraia organizes over the course of the year. La Capraia advises Residents on access to collections, sites, archives, and libraries as needed for their projects; at Capodimonte, we arrange access to collections and research resources insofar as it is possible during the museum’s current partial closure for renovation. In the spring semester, Residents are expected to present their research in an informal seminar, gallery talk, or site visit. In the summer following the residency period, Residents are invited to contribute a short essay to the Center’s annual research report.

Research Residents are responsible for obtaining appropriate visas (the Center provides official letters of support) and for providing proof of health insurance. Residents must arrange their own travel to and from Naples.

We welcome applications from doctoral students of any nationality, in the earlier stages of research for the dissertation. Applicants are invited to submit a letter of interest, a CV, and a research proposal of 1,000-1,500 words that frames the central questions, methods, and scholarly contributions of project, and describes the resources that will be used while on site in and around Naples. Materials should be sent in a single PDF file, with last name as the title of the file, to Center Coordinator, Dott.ssa Francesca Santamaria (francesca.santamaria@utdallas.edu). In addition, applicants must invite three recommenders to send letters of support directly to the same email address. All materials, including letters of recommendation, are due by January 31, 2025. Finalists will be invited to interviews held via Zoom with representatives from the O’Donnell Institute and Capodimonte.

Learn more about the Center for the Art and Architectural History of Port Cities “La Capraia” at https://arthistory.utdallas.edu/port-cities/, where you will also find digital editions of our annual research reports. Download an overview of La Capraia at https://tinyurl.com/La-Capraia-overview. Learn about our Research Residencies at https://arthistory.utdallas.edu/port-cities/residencies/. View past and upcoming scholarly programs at https://arthistory.utdallas.edu/port-cities/programs/.

Download a pdf version of this call at https://tinyurl.com/LaCapraia2025-2026Call.

Centro per la Storia dell'Arte e dell’Architettura delle Città Portuali "La Capraia"
a collaboration between
The Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte
The Edith O'Donnell Institute of Art History
Franklin University Switzerland
and Amici di Capodimonte

Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte / La Capraia
Via Miano 2 Napoli 80131
+39 3494706237
lacapraia@gmail.com | https://arthistory.utdallas.edu/port-cities/

East of Byzantium Online Lecture: Re-Imagining Jerusalem: The Ritual Recreation of Pilgrimage between Syria and Georgia, Emma Loosley Leeming, 15 November 2024, 12:00PM EST

November 6, 2024

East of Byzantium Online Lecture

Re-Imagining Jerusalem: The Ritual Recreation of Pilgrimage between Syria and Georgia

Emma Loosley Leeming, University of Exeter

Friday, November 15, 2024 | 12:00 PM (EST, UTC -5) | Zoom

The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University are pleased to announce the next lecture in the 2024–2025 East of Byzantium lecture series.

Pilgrimages to the Holy Land are a well-documented phenomenon of Late Antique Christian belief and we are accustomed to reading about the experience of walking in the footsteps of Christ through the testimony of early witnesses such as Egeria. After the Islamic conquests and the loss of Jerusalem to the Arabs, there were periods when it became more difficult to undertake such travels and by the Middle Ages the concept of pilgrimage was re-framed so that it could also mean an interior journey undertaken by a meditative process such as the navigation of the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral.

However, across the Middle East and Caucasus, liturgical texts and rare poorly-understood survivals of early liturgical furniture suggest a range of processes for re-imagining Jerusalem both within churches or by imprinting the loca sancta upon a wider regional landscape. This lecture will introduce some of the ways that believers recreated the rituals of Jerusalem pilgrimage without leaving their hometowns and villages. It will introduce examples from Syria and Georgia in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and encourage future research in this widely under-studied area of ritual practice.

Emma Loosley Leeming studied at the University of York, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, where she specialised in the art, architecture and liturgy of Late Antique Syria. She then spent several years living and working at the Monastery of St. Moses the Abyssinian (Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi) in Nebek, Syria, during which time she founded and directed the Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project in nearby Qaryatayn. From 2004–2013 she was lecturer in Middle Eastern Art and Architecture at the University of Manchester, before moving to the University of Exeter (2013–) where since 2019 she has been Professor of Middle Eastern and Caucasian Christianities. From 2012–2017 she held a European Research Council grant that enabled her to explore the relationship between Syria and Georgia in Late Antiquity and is currently working on a book with a Georgian colleague examining the origins and development of Georgian ‘three-church’ basilicas.

Advance registration required. Register: https://eastofbyzantium.org/upcoming-events/

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture with any questions.

An East of Byzantium lecture. EAST OF BYZANTIUM is a partnership between the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University and the Mary Jaharis Center that explores the cultures of the eastern frontier of the Byzantine empire in the late antique and medieval periods.

Call for Applications: Visiting Researchers, ERC AGRELITA (2025), The reception of ancient Greece in pre-modern French literature and illustrations, Due By 15 February 2025

November 6, 2024

Call for Applications

ERC AGRELITA (2025)

Visiting Researchers

Project: The reception of ancient Greece in pre-modern French literature and illustrations of manuscripts and printed books (1320-1550): how invented memories shaped the identity of European communities

Due by 15 February 2025

Until now the reception history of ancient Greece in pre-modern Western Europe has focused almost exclusively on the transmission of Greek texts. Yet well before the revival of Greek teaching, numerous vernacular works, often illustrated, contained elaborate representations of ancient Greece. AGRELITA studies a large corpus of French language literary works (historical, fictional, poetic, didactic ones) produced from 1320 to the 1550s in France and Europe, before the first direct translations from Greek to French, as well as the images of their manuscripts and printed books. The AGRELITA project, “The reception of ancient Greece in pre-modern French literature and illustrations of manuscripts and printed books (1320-1550) : how invented memories shaped the identity of European communities”, directed by Catherine Gaullier-Bougassas, opens guest researchers residencies in 2025 in the University of Caen Normandy (France). Stays at the University of Caen Normandie may be 4 to 6 weeks length, and during the year 2025 may take place in May/June/early July.

This call for applications is open to anyone, of French or foreign nationality, who holds a PhD in literature, art history, or history, whose work focuses on the history of books, cultural and political history, visual studies, or memory studies, wherein the competence and project are deemed to be complementary to the ones of the AGRELITA team. These residencies indeed aim to open the reflections carried out by the team, to enhance its scientific activity through interactions with other scholars and other universities. The guest researchers will have the exceptional opportunity to contribute to a major project, to work with a dynamic team that conducts a wide range of activities at the University of Caen Normandie and within the research laboratory CRAHAM where many Antiquity, Medieval and Renaissance times specialists work, as well as to publish in a prestigious setting.

In 2025, the AGRELITA project will focus on these lines of research:
- “The new lives of Greek divinities (14th-16th centuries)”, “Images of Nature and beings in the reception of Greek myths (14th-16th centuries)”, “The political exploitations of Greek Antiquity (14th-16th centuries)”;

- A broader line of research: “Uses and exploitations of Antiquity memories, from the beginning of our era until the 21th century”.

For more information, please see: https://agrelita.hypotheses.org/5997

Call For Papers: Medieval Communities, 18th Annual Conference, IMS-PARIS (3-5 July 2025), Abstracts Due 1 Dec. 2024

November 6, 2024

Call For Papers

INTERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL SOCIETY (IMS-Paris) - 18th Annual Conference

Medieval Communities

July 3-5, 2025

Deadline for Abstracts: December 1, 2024

Keynote Addresses :

Sharon Farmer, Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara

Cécile Voyer, Centre d’Etudes supérieures de civilisation médiévale, l’Université de Poitiers

How did people in the Middle Ages define, create, and maintain a sense of community? The International Medieval Society, Paris (IMS-Paris) invites abstracts and session proposals for our 2025 symposium on the theme of Communities in Medieval France.

The word “community” may be defined as a group of people with shared characteristics, emotional values, or interests who perceive themselves as distinct from others. From communes, monasteries and confraternities to soldiers, lepers, and the blind, medieval people formed close emotional ties and created rituals and other practices that constituted community. This symposium invites new lines of investigation that will deepen our knowledge of the medieval sense of community, broadly defined.

Proposals should focus on France during the Middle Ages, but do not need to be exclusively limited to this period and geographical area. We encourage proposals and papers from all fields of medieval studies, such as anthropology, archeology, history, economic and social history, art history, gender studies, literary studies, musicology, philosophy, etc. Proposals of 300 words (in English or French) for a 20-minute paper should be e-mailed to imsparissymposium@gmail.com no later than December 1, 2024. Abstracts should be accompanied by full contact information and a short bio.

For more information, please click here.

The IMS-Paris is an interdisciplinary, bilingual (French/English) organization that fosters exchanges between French and foreign scholars. For more than a decade, the IMS has served as a center for medievalists who travel to France to conduct research, work, or study.

APPEL A COMMUNICATIONS

Société internationale des médiévistes de Paris - 18e colloque annuel

Communautés médiévales

July 3-5, 2025

Conférences plénières:

"Jehanne la Fouaciere: Parisian widow, linen merchant -- and Beguine?“ Sharon Farmer, Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara

"Les chanoines de Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers et leur saint patron au XIe siècle: une mise en images dans l'espace ecclésial de la communauté autour du fondateur de l'Église locale, Cécile Voyer, Centre d’Etudes supérieures de civilisation médiévale, l’Université de Poitiers

Comment les gens au Moyen Âge définissaient-ils, créaient-ils et maintenaient- ils les communautés dont ils faisaient partie ? La Société Internationale des Médiévistes, Paris (IMS-Paris) appelle à recevoir des propositions de communication ou de session dans le cadre de son colloque de 2025 sur le thème des communautés dans la France médiévale.

Le terme de « communauté » peut être compris au sens large : tout groupement de personnes partageant des caractéristiques, des valeurs affectives ou des intérêts particuliers, et se percevant comme distinct des autres. Qu’il s'agisse de communes, de monastères, de confréries, ou de rassemblements de guerriers, de lépreux ou d’aveugles, les femmes et hommes du Moyen Âge ont su tisser des liens affectifs étroits et créer de multiples rituels et autres pratiques communautaires. Nous espérons avec cette conférence mettre en valeur de nouvelles pistes de recherche pour mieux comprendre la conception médiévale de la communauté au Moyen Age.

Les propositions doivent porter sur la France pendant le Moyen Age, mais peuvent ne pas se limiter exclusivement à cette période ni à cette zone géographique. Nous encourageons les propositions de communication dans tous les domaines des études médiévales, y compris en anthropologie, archéologie, histoire, histoire économique et sociale, histoire de l’art, études de genre, études littéraires, musicologie et philosophie.

Les propositions de 300 mots (en anglais ou en français) pour une communication de 20 minutes doivent être envoyées par courriel (email) à imsparissymposium@gmail.com au plus tard le 1er décembre 2024. Chaque proposition doit être accompagnée des coordonnées complètes des personnes qui présenteront, leur CV et leur liste du matériel audiovisuel nécessaire.

For more information, please click here.

IMS-Paris est un organisme interdisciplinaire et bilingue (français/anglais) dont l’objectif est de favoriser les échanges entre médiévistes français et étrangers. Pour déjà plus d’une décennie, l’IMS aide les médiévistes venant en France pour le travail, les études ou la recherche.

GESTA VOLUME 63 NUMBER 2 NOW AVAILABLE TO ICMA MEMBERS!

October 17, 2024

The latest issue of Gesta (Fall 2024) is now available on the University of Chicago Press Journals website. Following is the issue's table of contents:

Gesta, Vol. 63, No. 2

Seeing Christ on the Cross in Late Antique Syria and Mesopotamia: Crosses, Crucifixes, and the Question of Iconicity
Daniel An

Illumination Unbound: The Victoria and Albert Museum Cross and Its Parchment Miniatures
Judith Hathaway Oliver

“Go Forth and Learn”: Visual Exegesis in the Medieval Haggadah
Abby Kornfeld

The Columns from “the Tomb of Charlemagne” between Aachen and the Louvre: A Modern Spoliation Saga
Brigitte Buettner

Remember, ICMA membership provides exclusive online access to the complete run of Gesta in full text, PDF, and ebook editions at no additional charge.

To access your members-only journal subscription, log in to the ICMA site here with your username and password. If you have any questions, please email icma@medievalart.org.

ICMA IN DC: EXHIBITION TOUR OF "AN EPIC OF KINGS: THE GREAT MONGOL SHAHNAMA" - FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2024. REGISTER TODAY!

October 17, 2024

ICMA IN WASHINGTON DC
EXHIBITION TOUR OF AN EPIC OF KINGS: THE GREAT MONGOL SHAHNAMA

FRIDAY 6 DECEMBER 2024, IN PERSON
1:30–3PM ET
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ASIAN ART, WASHINGTON, DC

*Iskandar and the talking tree* (detail), folio from the Great Mongol *Shahnama* (Book of kings), Iran, probably Tabriz, Ilkhanid dynasty, ca. 1330, ink, color, and gold on paper, National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Collection, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, **F1935.23**

The Great Mongol Shahnama is the most celebrated of all medieval Persian manuscripts. Considered Iran’s national epic, the Shahnama (Book of Kings) was completed by the poet Firdawsi in 1010. The copy known as the Great Mongol Shahnama was produced three hundred years later, commissioned by a ruler of the Ilkhanid dynasty, a branch of the Mongol Empire. Between the manuscript’s covers, art, power, and history intertwined. An Epic of Kings presents twenty-five folios from this now dismantled manuscript alongside contemporaneous works from China, the Mediterranean, and the Latin West, highlighting the cosmopolitan nature of the Ilkhanid empire.

For more information on the exhibition, click HERE.

You are invited to join other ICMA Members and area medievalists for a tour led by exhibition curator Simon Rettig (Associate Curator for the Arts of the Islamic World, National Museum of Asian Art) on Friday 6 December 2024 at 1:30pm. Drinks to follow courtesy of the ICMA.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
1050 Independence Ave., SW
Washington, DC
Meet on Floor B1 at the bottom of the stairs, in front of the entrance to the exhibition in Galleries 23 and 24.

This gathering is informal:

Attendees are responsible for their own travel bookings. Admission to the exhibition site is free.
The purpose of this event is to introduce ICMA members and medievalists from the area to one another, to strengthen the social and professional ties in our community, and to celebrate our mutual interest in medieval art, while exploring the exhibition together.

Organized by Michelle C. Wang, Georgetown University, and Matthew Westerby, National Gallery of Art.

For questions, please email icma@medievalart.org

Register HERE

STUDY DAYS FOR "LUMEN: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LIGHT" AND "WONDERS OF CREATION: ART, SCIENCE, AND INNOVATION IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD" - 10-12 NOVEMBER 2024. REGISTER TODAY!

October 17, 2024

STUDY DAYS FOR LUMEN: THE ART AND SCIENCE OF LIGHT AND WONDERS OF CREATION: ART, SCIENCE, AND INNOVATION IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

GETTY CENTER AND THE SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF ART
LOS ANGELES, CA AND SAN DIEGO, CA

SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2024 - TUESDAY 12 NOVEMBER 2024

ICMA members are invited to an event organized by our friends at Study Day Medieval Art on the occasion of two exhibitions Lumen: The Art and Science of Light at the Getty Center and Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World at The San Diego Museum of Art.

PART I
Los Angeles, CA
Getty Center

SUNDAY 10 NOVEMBER 2024
Talk (in-person and online)
Art, Science, and Wonder in the Medieval World
The Getty Center

Free | Advance ticket required
To attend in person, click Get Tickets
To watch online, register via Zoom.

To complement the exhibition Lumen: The Art and Science of Light, curators and scholars present two panel discussions on the intersections of art and science in the medieval world. Designed as a series of engaging discussions, the first presentation explores topics such as astronomy and optics, and examines how medieval people thought about the science of light in both Latin and Arabic speaking regions. The second discussion invites scholars of neuroscience, philosophy, and art to discuss the way the eye and the brain react to light and how medieval people harnessed these effects to create immersive spaces of wonder.

Panel 1: Light, Time, and Magic in the Middle Ages, 11:00 am–12:30 pm

Moderator
Barry C. Smith, professor of philosophy and director, Institute of Philosophy at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study

Ladan Akbarnia, curator, South Asian and Islamic art, San Diego Museum of Art
Margaret Gaida, postdoctoral researcher, California Institute of Technology
Megan McNamee, lecturer in pre-modern art, 500–1500, Edinburgh College of Art, The University of Edinburgh

Panel 2: The Perception and Neuroscience of Light, 2:00-3:30 p.m.

Moderator
Barry C. Smith, professor of philosophy and director, Institute of Philosophy at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study

Nancy Thompson, professor of art and art history; Department Chair of Art and Art History, St. Olaf College
G. Gabrielle Starr, president, Pomona College
Abbey Stockstill, associate professor of Islamic art and architecture, Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University

Full information HERE

MONDAY 11 NOVEMBER 2024
Study Day in the exhibition Lumen: The Art and Science of Light with the curators of the exhibition: Kristen Collins, Nancy Turner, and Glenn Phillips

Click HERE for exhibition info.

Afternoon / evening: individual travel to San Diego

PART II
San Diego, CA
The San Diego Museum of Art

Tuesday 12 November 2024
Study Day in the exhibition Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World with curator Ladan Akbarnia

Click HERE for exhibition info.

Afternoon: return travel

Please send your registration as soon as possible to:
medievalstudyday@gmail.com

Call for PhD Applications: MSCA Doctoral Network StoryPharm, Due 15 December 2024, 14:00 CET/ 8:00 ET

October 16, 2024

Call for PhD Applications

MSCA Doctoral Network StoryPharm: Storytelling as Pharmakon in Premodernity and Beyond. Training the New Generation of Researchers in Health Humanities

Various Locations

Due 15 December 2024 at 14:00 CET (8:00 ET)

MSCA Doctoral Network StoryPharm: Storytelling as Pharmakon in Premodernity and Beyond. Training the New Generation of Researchers in Health Humanities. Call for PhD Positions Medieval Art History

We are pleased to announce four three-year Special Scientist PhD Positions in Medieval Art History within the framework of the MSCA doctoral network StoryPharm: Storytelling as Pharmakon in Premodernity and Beyond. Training the New Generation of Researchers in Health Humanities (European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action – Doctoral Networks – Grant Agreement 101169114, https://www.ucy.ac.cy/storypharm/):

“Images of Christ’s Miraculous Healings between Medical Awareness and Social Inclusion (9th–11th c. CE)” (University of Salerno, Italy)

“The Pictorial Narratives of Herbal Medicine in Dioskorides’ De materia medica” (University of Lund, Sweden)

“Ecologies of Healing: Visual Storytelling in Medieval Medical Manuscripts and Herbals” (University of Bamberg, Germany)

“The Healthy Place: Architecture and Images for Healing Devotional Experiences in Southern Italy in a Mediterranean Context” (University of Salerno, Italy)

StoryPharm focuses on premodern narratives and images involving medicine, health, and healing. These will be studied from a transdisciplinary and comparative perspective, across linguistic and cultural borders.

For detailed information on each PhD position and on the application procedure please consult: https://www.ucy.ac.cy/storypharm/vacancies/

Applications will be accepted from 15/10/2024 until 15/12/2024 at 14:00 CET (8:00 ET).