Call for Applications: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Academic Year Program, Due 15 January 2025

Call for Applications

American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Academic Year Program

Due January 15, 2025

The Regular Member program runs the full academic year, from early September to late May. Graduate students and graduating seniors interested in an intensive survey of the art, archaeology, history, and topography of Greece, from antiquity to the present, are encouraged to apply. There are no grades and no university credit offered, but participation in the Regular Member Program is a widely recognized part of graduate training in Classics and related fields. Regular Members reside in Athens, using Loring Hall as their home base, throughout the nine-month academic year (September through May). Students receive comprehensive training through visits to the principal archaeological sites and museums of Greece as well as in seminars led by resident and visiting scholars. They also have the option to take part in the training program at the Corinth excavations. The Regular Member program is directed by the Mellon Professor, Denver Graninger, who oversees and mentors the student members. 

The School typically accepts 15 to 20 students each year into the program. 

For more information, click here.

Call for Applications: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Gennadius Library Medieval Greek Program, Due 15 January 2025

Call for Applications

American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Gennadius Library Medieval Greek Program

Due 15 January 2025

The Gennadius Library offers a Medieval Greek Summer Session focused on the teaching of Medieval Greek. The Medieval Greek Summer Session, which was inaugurated in 2005, is offered every other year.

The Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens announces the summer session focused on the teaching of Medieval Greek. Founded in 1881, the American School is the most significant resource in Greece for American scholars in the fields of ancient and post-classical studies. One of the two major research libraries of the School, the Gennadius Library, which houses over 146,000 volumes and archives, is devoted to post-classical Hellenic civilization. The Library invites applications for a month-long Summer Session for Medieval Greek at the Intermediate to Advanced Level. The objective is to familiarize students who have a sound foundation in Classical Greek with Medieval Greek language and philology by exposing them to primary sources, different kinds of literary genres, paleography and epigraphy, drawing on the resources of the Gennadius Library. The two Professors leading the session are Professor Alexander Alexakis, University of Ioannina, and Professor Stratis Papaioannou, University of Crete.

For more information, click here.

Call for Excavation Supervisors: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Ancient Corinth Excavation (2025 Season), Due 15 January 2025

Call for Excavation Supervisors

American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Ancient Corinth Excavation, 2025 Season

Due 15 January 2025

The Corinth Excavations of the American School are looking for advanced graduate students to serve as supervisors during the spring 2025 field season. The season is divided into three four-week sessions, each comprising three weeks of excavation and one week of analysis, synthesis, and clean-up. Session I will run from April 6 to May 2; Session II from May 4 to May 30; and Session III from June 1 to June 27. Applicants may request to stay for one or more sessions.

At Corinth, experienced local workers are entrusted with most of the actual digging, while supervisors are expected to maintain a synchronous record of the fieldwork with the aid of the iDig app. Supervisors are also expected to work with the Director and Associate Director in processing the context pottery and other small finds from their area and in producing a synthetic report on their area at the end of each session. 

Additional information regarding the responsibilities of the supervisors and the daily work schedule can be found at https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/excavations/ancient-corinth/about-the-excavations-1/information-for-excavators-and-volunteers.

Excavation in 2025 will continue in the area northeast of the theater, where work was initiated in 2018. For information on the most recent season, click here. Reports on previous seasons appear in Hesperia 89 (2020) pp. 125-190; Hesperia 90 (2021) pp. 773-818; Hesperia 92 (2023) pp. 355-404.

Accommodations are provided in the two guest houses of the excavation compound and meals are provided 5 days a week. 

Review of applications will begin January 15, 2025, and will continue until the positions are filled.

A complete online application should consist of the following parts:

• A completed online application form, with the materials requested below. 

• Letter of Interest.

• CV.

• Names and email addresses for two referees. Referees might be contacted for references after the application deadline, if necessary. 

• Acknowledgement of health considerations. Check the box on the application form to acknowledge that you have read and understood the “Health Considerations.”

Further inquiries should be directed to: The Programs Office (application@ascsa.org) or the Director (Dr. Pfaff, cpfaff@ascsa.edu.gr)

Applicants can expect to receive notification after February 15, 2025.

For more information, click here.

To apply, click here.

Call for Applications: American School of Classical Studies at Athens Summer Session Travel-Study Programs, Due 6 January 2025

Call for Applications

American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Summer Session Travel-Study Programs

Due 6 January 2025

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Six-Week Summer Session, June 16 to July 30, 2025

The Summer Session program of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is a six-week session designed for those who wish to become acquainted with Greece and its major monuments, and to improve their understanding of the country’s landscape, history, material culture, and literature from antiquity to the present. Led by exceptional scholars of Classics and related fields, participants visit many of the major archaeological sites, monuments, and museums throughout Greece. The program has a strong academic component and participants are expected to research and then present topics on-site. Since 1925, the Summer Session has offered participants the unique opportunity to learn from eminent archaeologists and art historians on-site.

The ASCSA Summer Session offers an unparalleled opportunity to experience the ancient sites, monuments, and culture of Greece first-hand, under the guidance of expert professors deeply familiar with the country and up-to-date with the latest research.

For the summer of 2024, the ASCSA presents an intensive Summer Session that lasts six weeks and is limited to twenty participants.  The Summer Session is based at the ASCSA campus in central Athens.  From there the group travels throughout Greece, from the Peloponnesus in the south to Thessaloniki in the north, and even the island of Crete. The itinerary includes not only well-known archaeological sites and museums but also amazing places off the beaten track.

Summer Session participants receive exclusive access to archaeological sites and storerooms inaccessible to others and enjoy presentations on ongoing excavations by preeminent scholars. Presentations and tours by the world's leading specialists offer Summer Session participants insightful, comprehensive overviews of Greek art and archaeology, and illuminate the full range of Greece's rich history– from the Bronze Age to the Classical Greek and Roman eras, through the Byzantine period, and into the twenty-first century.

Participants work together in cooperative learning projects, sharing their knowledge in on-site oral presentations and seminar-style discussions.  Summer Session participants also deepen their understanding of contemporary Greece as they travel through it, converse with its inhabitants, and reflect on the relationship of past and present in this fascinating country.

Graduate students and faculty in Classics or Ancient History whose main focus is not archaeology will find the Summer Session provides them invaluable new perspectives on ancient Greece that they can incorporate in their teaching and research. For graduate students focusing on Greek archaeology, the Summer Session offers an intensive introduction to the major issues and sources of the field. Advanced undergraduates who are considering graduate training in classical studies will find the Summer Session superb preparation for the rigors of graduate school. Teachers will discover new stories and engaging new material to share with their students back home.

For information, visit here.

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Summer Seminars

The Summer Seminars of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens are 18-day programs that focus on specific cultural themes, historical periods, or geographical regions. The Seminars are led by exceptional scholars of Classics and related fields. Under their direction, participants study texts, visit archaeological sites and museums, and engage with expert guest speakers in order to deepen their understanding of Greece’s landscape, history, literature, and material culture.

Seminar I: People and Places of Ancient Philosophy (June 9 to June 27, 2025)

The origins and development of ancient philosophy are intertwined with the history, topography, and material culture of democratic Athens in the classical and Hellenistic periods. This seminar will resituate the “ancient philosophers” and their intellectual traditions in the physical world from which they hail: democratic Athens of the classical and Hellenistic periods. Socrates and Plato, Aristotle and Theophrastus, Epicurus and Zeno, Antisthenes and Diogenes (among others) are best considered on site and in context. This seminar will explore these philosophers and their legacy in light of the various settings which shaped their thinking and appear in their works. 

The program will spend approximately half the seminar in Athens. While in Athens, many of its canonical sites will be visited, including the Acropolis and Agora, the Theater of Dionyos and the Kerameikos Cemetery, and the port of Piraeus. Participants will also explore its world-famous archaeological collections, including those of the Acropolis and Agora, the National Archaeological Museum and the Epigraphical Museum. The other half of the time, participants will (like good philosophers!) be in motion, traveling in a counterclockwise circle around the Corinthian Gulf and Peloponnese before ending up back in Athens and the School. Highlights of the road trip include: Elefsina; the Thebes Museum; Delphi (site and museum); ancient Olympia (site and museum); Palace of Nestor; Mystra and Sparti/Sparta; Mycenae; Nafplio; ancient Corinth (site and museum). In time-honored American School tradition, the journey will be punctuated with the occasional swim stop. This course will be taught by Professor Geoff Bakewell (Rhodes College).

Seminar II: Settlers and Traders: Corinth and Its Apoikiai in W. Greece and  S. Albania (July 3 to July 21, 2025)

This 2025 ASCSA Summer Seminar will explore and interrogate the history and topography of the city of Corinth and its “colonies” (apoikiai) in western Greece, including the islands of Leucas and Corcyra, and Apollonia and Epidamnus in Albania. Activities will encourage participants to develop skills of observation and analysis, of both the landscape and our sources. Each participant will present an oral site report on a topic related to the seminar after consultation with the leaders. Participants will be encouraged to investigate and question the traditional narrative of ancient Greek expansion in the Archaic period by considering its presence in the landscape. 

The program will spend part of the initial time in Athens introducing the topic of Greek “colonization,” its historiography, and debate over use of the term. During the seminar, there will be opportunities on site and at museums to discuss these topics as they connect with the specific sites of the day. The seminar is organized in two phases. The first part of the seminar exposes participants to the site and extensive history of Corinth and the Corinthia, with particular focus on the archaeologically recovered remains and material culture. The second and longer phase of the seminar will be an exploration of the accessible Corinthian colonies on the Greek mainland (e.g., Alyzia, Sollion, Anactorion, Actium, Nicopolis, and the islands of Leucas and Corcyra) before the group crosses the border to Albania to visit Apollonia and Epidamnus, among others, in order not just to connect these sites but to also consider why these settlement sites were chosen and their association with their founding city. The program will return to Greece to visit other colonies and important adjacent regional sites including Dodona, Ambracia, Amphilochia, and Delphi before concluding in Athens. The seminar will draw upon a wide array of guest speakers to ensure participants are exposed not only to the sites but to the many people who excavate and study them. It will be taught by Professors Georgia Tsouvala (Illinois State University) and Lee L. Brice (Illinois Wesleyan University).

For more information on both summer programs, visit here.

Call for Applications: American Academy in Rome, Italian Fellowship for Medieval Studies , Due 12 February 2025

Call for Applications

American Academy in Rome

Italian Fellowship for Medieval Studies 

Due 12 February 2025

The American Academy in Rome is offering an Italian Fellowship for scholars working in medieval studies—which includes archaeology, history, history of art and architecture, literature, religious studies, and musicology—for the 2025–26 academic year.

All academic approaches to the field or combinations of approaches will be considered, as well as historical approaches overlapping with the social sciences. Candidates should indicate how they plan to use resources such as libraries, archives, and museums in Rome and at the Academy.

This postdoctoral fellowship will be awarded for a two-month period, between September 2025 to June 2026. The application deadline is February 12, 2025.

Candidates must be Italian citizens (dual citizenship is acceptable), have completed their PhD between 2018 and September 1, 2025, and demonstrate excellent written and spoken English, which will be assessed in an interview if applicable

For more information, click here.

Call for Papers: Shifting Fortunes in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (24-25 April 2025, University of Edinburgh), Due 21 February 2025

Call for Papers

Shifting Fortunes in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

24-25 April 2025, University of Edinburgh

Due 21 February 2025

Edinburgh’s Centre for Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies (CLAIBS) is pleased to announce the call for papers for the 6th International Graduate Conference in Late Antique, Islamic and Byzantine Studies.

Keynote Speaker: Dr Krystina Kubina (Austrian Academy of Sciences)

The fortunes of individuals, communities and states in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages were far from fixed certainties, and whilst any number of sudden crises and exigencies could bring fortunes crashing down, there was also ample opportunity for them to be built up, transformed, and consolidated. Therefore, securing one’s fortunes, be they political, economic or spiritual, was of paramount importance to all members of late antique and medieval societies. Whether in the imperial cities of Constantinople and Rome, the caliphal courts of Baghdad, Cordoba and Cairo, or in the courts of Paris and Léon, decisions were made, edicts and chrysobulls were issued, taxes were raised, theologies were disputed, and wars were waged, all in the name of securing the good fortune of ruling interests. Beyond the actions of caliphs, emperors and kings, one is greeted by an assortment of ways in which individuals and communities sought to enhance their own fortunes, be it through pious dedications, participation in religious ritual, production or patronage of literature, economic activities or acts of rebellion. On the other hand, a drop in fortunes could be heralded by environmental factors, such as plague, famine, drought, or through instances of external and internal conflict like invasion, civil war and fitnah.

This conference will focus on this theme of shifting fortunes and examine both the factors underpinning change, as well as the various processes and dynamics through which the creation, consolidation, and collapse of fortunes came to pass. For instance, how were fortunes negotiated and renegotiated across the period, and how far did this differ across the boundaries of social class, gender, religious identity and geography? Given the broad range of possible applications of ‘shifting fortunes’ as an avenue of historical inquiry, we encourage the submission of papers which broach a wide array of topics and adopt innovative methodological approaches in their case studies. Moreover, the scope of this conference shall go beyond Centre’s focus on Late Antiquity, Islamic and Byzantine Studies. As such, we shall also incorporate contributions from a global medieval perspective.

The deadline for abstracts is the 21 February 2025 and notification of acceptance will be confirmed by 7 March 2025. 

Please submit your abstract of no more than 300 words, and a 100-word professional biography to edibyzpg@ed.ac.uk. We kindly welcome submissions from individuals or groups. Lunch will be provided on both days, and there will be a small registration fee of £20 for attendees. For speakers, we hope to waive this registration fee, but further information will be provided at a later date.

Suggest topics for papers can be found in the document below (PDF), however, papers which approach the theme of ‘shifting fortunes’ from other angles will also be considered.

Call for papers for Shifting Fortunes in Late Antiquity and the Middle Agesers for Shifting Fortunes in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (1.42 MB / PDF)

For more information, visit: https://hca.ed.ac.uk/updates-events/events/cfp-shifting-fortunes-in-late-antiquity-and-the-middle-ages.

Call for Applications: Council of the Church Monuments Society, Church Monuments Essay Prize, Due 31 January 2025

Call for Applications

Council of the Church Monuments Society

Church Monuments Essay Prize

Due 31 January 2025

The Council of the Church Monuments Society offers a biennial prize of £500 called the Church Monuments Essay Prize, to be awarded with a certificate for the best essay submitted in the relevant year. The prize will only be awarded if the essay is considered by the judges to be of sufficiently high standard to merit publication in the peer-reviewed journal Church Monuments. Entries in addition to the winner may be considered for publication.

The competition is open only to those who have not previously published an article in Church Monuments. Entrants need not be members of the Church Monuments Society, but are recommended to familiarise themselves with Church Monuments: abstracts and indexes can be found on the website https://churchmonumentssociety.org.

The focus of the essay must be a monument/s in a church, churchyard or cemetery, of any period and location. Entries must be submitted in English.

The length (including notes) should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words, with a maximum of 10 illustrations.

The closing date for new entries is 31 January 2025.

Please contact the Hon. Journal Editor (Jonathan Trigg, jrtrigg@gmail.com) for a copy of the rules and the guidelines to contributors and/or for advice on the suitability of a particular topic. Download rules and criteria also here: link.

Contact: https://churchmonumentssociety.org/contact-us

Call for Applications: Mary Jaharis Center Grants 2025–2026, Due 1 February 2025

Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture

2025–2026 Grant Competition

Due 1 Feburary 2025

Mary Jaharis Center Co-Funding Grants promote Byzantine studies in North America. These grants provide co-funding to organize scholarly gatherings (e.g., workshops, seminars, small conferences) in North America that advance scholarship in Byzantine studies broadly conceived. We are particularly interested in supporting convenings that build diverse professional networks that cross the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines, propose creative approaches to fundamental topics in Byzantine studies, or explore new areas of research or methodologies.

Mary Jaharis Center Dissertation Grants are awarded to advanced graduate students working on Ph.D. dissertations in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived. These grants are meant to help defray the costs of research-related expenses, e.g., travel, photography/digital images, microfilm.

Mary Jaharis Center Publication Grants support book-length publications or major articles in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived. Grants are aimed at early career academics. Preference will be given to postdocs and assistant professors, though applications from non-tenure track faculty and associate and full professors will be considered. We encourage the submission of first-book projects.

Mary Jaharis Center Project Grants support discrete and highly focused professional projects aimed at the conservation, preservation, and documentation of Byzantine archaeological sites and monuments dated from 300 CE to 1500 CE primarily in Greece and Turkey. Projects may be small stand-alone projects or discrete components of larger projects. Eligible projects might include archeological investigation, excavation, or survey; documentation, recovery, and analysis of at risk materials (e.g., architecture, mosaics, paintings in situ); and preservation (i.e., preventive measures, e.g., shelters, fences, walkways, water management) or conservation (i.e., physical hands-on treatments) of sites, buildings, or objects.

The application deadline for all grants is February 1, 2025. For further information, please visit the Mary Jaharis Center website: https://maryjahariscenter.org/grants.

Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjcbac@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center, with any questions.

ICMA in London: SILK ROADS at The British Museum, ICMA member early morning viewing hour, Thursday 23 January 2025 at 9am

ICMA in London
Early morning viewing of Silk Roads
Thursday 23 January 2025, 9am
The British Museum
In-person

Register HERE

ICMA members are invited to an early morning viewing of Silk Roads at The British Museum on Thursday 23 January 2025 at 9am. Members will be able to view the exhibition prior to the museum’s public opening hours with a brief introduction by one of the exhibition’s curators. Afterwards, members are invited to an offsite location for coffee.

Capacity is limited to 20 people. Please register by Monday 13 January 2025. Attendees must be ICMA members; guests will be added to a waitlist and receive confirmation the week of the event, should spaces be available.

Working with 29 national and international partners to present objects from many regions and cultures alongside those from the British Museum collection, the exhibition offers a unique chance to see objects from the length and breadth of the Silk Roads. From Tang Chinese ceramics destined for ports in the Middle East to Indian garnets found in Suffolk, they reveal the astonishing reach of these networks. 

More information about the exhibition: click HERE

Register HERE

ICMA in St. Louis, Friday 17 January 2025: Study event featuring "Global Connections, 500-1500" + "Narrative Wisdom and African Arts"

ICMA in St. Louis
Friday 17 January 2025, 2pm CT
Saint Louis Art Museum
In-person

Register HERE

ICMA members are invited to attend a study event at the Saint Louis Art Museum with curators Maggie Crosland (Birmingham Museum of Art), Judith Mann, and Hannah Segrave. Maggie Crosland will walk attendees through Global Connections, 500-1500, the reinstallation of medieval artworks at the Saint Louis Art Museum. After the Global Connections discussion, Judith Mann and Hannah Segrave will lead a 30 minute tour of the European Art Galleries.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to explore the exhibition Narrative Wisdom and African Arts, which places historical works made by artists across sub-Saharan Africa during the 13th to 20th centuries in conversation with contemporary works by African artists working around the globe.

Click HERE for more information on Global Connections, 500-1500.
Click HERE for Narrative Wisdom and African Arts exhibition information.

Drinks to follow at 6pm at an offsite location. The Saint Louis Art Museum is free and open to the public 10 am–9 pm on Fridays, so arrive early if you want to explore the collection at your own pace. 

Register HERE

Exhibition Closing: Healing the Body, Healing the Soul: Methods of Therapy in Medieval Europe, The Walters Art Museum, Until 15 December 2024

Exhibition CLosing

Healing the Body, Healing the Soul: Methods of Therapy in Medieval EuropE

June 20, 2024–December 15, 2024

Centre Street Building, Level 3, Medieval Gallery, The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD

Saints Cosmas and Damian, Patron Saints of Doctors (detail), Almugavar Hours, Spain, ca. 1500. Bequest of Henry Walters, 1931.

Health, wellness, and healing are universal issues that have preoccupied people since the beginning of human memory. Medieval Europeans held the belief that the body and soul were connected and impossible to separate. Maintaining bodily and spiritual health was considered a constant but necessary challenge, and people of this time period dedicated significant effort and time to finding remedies for bodily and spiritual ailments. Many of these practices are reflected in the art and books of the time.

On view June 20, Healing the Body, Healing the Soul: Methods of Therapy in Medieval Europe explores the intimate link between body and soul as envisioned during the medieval period and demonstrates how works of art contributed to medieval European understandings of wellness and even aided in therapeutic practices.

Divided into three sections which address physical healing, spiritual healing, and the interlinked nature of physical and spiritual health, works in the exhibition examine medical theories, medicine in practice, saints and health, pilgrimage, and spiritual exercise. Featuring 23 works, visitors will see rare books and manuscripts from the Walters library along with medieval objects. To provide a contemporary perspective, the exhibition also includes a photograph by blind artist Pete Eckert from his Bone Light series. According to the artist, who creates light photography of his skeleton, the loss of his sight produced a phantom sense of light coming from his bones which he captures in illuminated portraits. The work speaks to the current lived experiences of people with disabilities and creates a link to understand how disability was understood during the medieval period in the context of body and spirit.

Curators: Orsolya Mednyánszky, Former Zanvyl Krieger Doctoral Fellow; Lynley Anne Herbert, Robert and Nancy Hall Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts; Lauren Maceross, Zanvyl Krieger Doctoral Fellow

This installation is generously funded by Supporters of the Walters Art Museum. To make a contribution toward this exhibition, please consider making a gift today.

For more information, click here.

Exhibition Closing: Rising Signs: The Medieval Science of Astrology, Getty Center, Los Angeles, Until 5 January 2025

Exhibition Closing

Rising Signs: The Medieval Science of Astrology

Until 5 January 2025

Museum North Pavillion, Plaza Level, Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Details from Miscellany: Descriptions of Planets, Zodiacs, and Comets, shortly after 1464, German. Watercolor and ink on paper. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XII 8 (83.MO.137)

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

Medieval Europeans believed that the movements of the sun, moon, stars, and planets directly affected their lives on earth. The position of these celestial bodies had the power to not only influence individual personalities, but also created the seasonal conditions ideal for a variety of tasks from planting crops to bloodletting. Exploring the 12 signs of the zodiac still familiar to us today, this exhibition reveals the mysteries of medieval astrology as it intersected with medicine, divination, and daily life in the Middle Ages.

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

For more information, click here.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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.

Register HERE