Murray Seminar: A BEAUTIFUL LIE: MEDIEVAL ART FORGERIES IN CATALONIA, ALBERTO VELASCO (IN-PERSON AND ONLINE), 6 December 2022, 17:00-18:30 GMT (12:00-13:30 ET)

A BEAUTIFUL LIE: MEDIEVAL ART FORGERIES IN CATALONIA

ALBERTO VELASCO

MURRAY SEMINAR SERIES AT BIRBECK

Tuesday, 6 December 2022, 17:00 – 18:30 GMT

History of Art Department, Birkbeck 43, Gordon Sq. London WC1H 0PD United Kingdom

A forgery, regardless of the criteria we may apply when studying it - evaluating its artistry or establishing its significance as an illustrative document of a given period - is a deception. The reasons for the production and commercialization of medieval fakes in Catalonia during the first half of the twentieth century are unique and specific, and they are explained by cultural, political and social conditions that, nevertheless, find points of contact in other parts of Europe. Similarities are found especially in those regions and states where medieval past forms a significant part of national historical roots. Catalan nationalism, the fascination with the Middle Ages and the general interest of the Barcelona bourgeoisie in medieval art has led to the appearance in Catalonia of a market for fakes that attempted to meet the growing demand. These are some of the issues addressed in the lecture, where we will deal with some of the most successful forgers, such as the Junyer brothers, and with fake works which, in their day, were certified as genuine by important scholars. Today some of them are in museums, while others make stellar appearances on the art market.

In-Person Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-beautiful-lie-medieval-art-forgeries-in-catalonia-tickets-468335392767

Online Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-beautiful-lie-medieval-art-forgeries-in-catalonia-livestream-tickets-468320829207

MURRAY SEMINAR: GILDED SUNS AND PEACOCK ANGELS: THEATRICAL MATERIALITY AND ART IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY FLORENCE - LAURA STEFANESCU, 13 December 2022, 16:45 - 18:30 GMT (11:45-13:30 ET), Online

MURRAY SEMINAR:

GILDED SUNS AND PEACOCK ANGELS: THEATRICAL MATERIALITY AND ART IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY FLORENCE

LAURA STEFANESCU

13 December 2022

16:45 — 18:30 GMT (11:45-13:30 ET) Online

Birbeck University of London

Book your place

In fifteenth-century Florence, the phenomenon of religious theatre and ritual performance, promoted by adult and youth confraternities throughout the city, reached an unparalleled popularity, transitioning from the realm of devotion to that of the spectacular. The highlight of these performances was the materialisation of a multi-sensory heaven on stage and the appearance of its living angels (young Florentine boys) in their dazzling costumes. Painters living in the Santo Spirito quarter, where most of these activities took place, were actively involved in the creation of the apparatus for sacred plays. They were sometimes even members of the confraternities that produced the plays, as was, for example, Neri di Bicci, one of the most successful Florentine painters of the period.

Contact name: Laura Jacobus

Speakers

IN-PERSON AND ONLINE LECTURE: "THE CLEVELAND FOUNTAIN (PARIS, CA. 1320) AND MULTISENSORY ART HISTORY", 30 NOVEMBRE 2022, 15:00 CET (11:00 ET), AULA 11, COMPLESSO B. PELLEGRINO

"THE CLEVELAND FOUNTAIN (PARIS, CA. 1320) AND MULTISENSORY ART HISTORY"

30 NOVEMBRE 2022

AULA 11, COMPLESSO B. PELLEGRINO

Il giorno mercoledì 30 novembre 2022, presso l’Aula 11 del Complesso Beato Pellegrino, alle ore 17:00, Philippe Cordez (DFK - Deutsches Forum für Kunstgeschichte, Paris) e Gerhard Lutz (Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland) terranno una conferenza sul tema “The Cleveland Fountain (Paris, ca. 1320) and multisensory art history”.

The hydraulic and musical fountain in the Cleveland Museum of Art offers a perfect opportunity for theoretical reflection and pratical experimentation in multisensory art history. It is a unique device of gilt and enamelled silver made in Paris ca. 1320. As exposed in a recent essay, a close comparison with the Fountain of Youth presented in text, image, and music in the Roman de Fauvel – a political satire recorded in a manuscript of 1317 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. fr. 146) – suggests that the same group of intellectuals and artists was involved with both creations. Indeed, the Cleveland fountain multisensorially evokes the Parisian royal palace as a divine Fountain of Youth rejuvenating the French Kingdom. Collaborative research with the Cleveland Museum of Art, using digital tools, aims at deepening our knowledge of the fountain’s material constitution, historical context, and festive performance.

L’evento è organizzato da Valentina Baradel e Zuleika Murat, nell’ambito del progetto ERC “The Sensuous Appeal of the Holy. Sensory Agency of Sacred Art and Somatised Spiritual Experiences in Medieval Europe (12th-15th century) - SenSArt” (grant agreement No. 950248).

Scarica la locandina dell'evento.
Sono invitati a partecipare i dottorandi, gli specializzandi, gli studenti e tutti gli interessati.
E’ possibile seguire la conferenza online; gli interessati sono invitati a contattare via mail Valentina Baradel (valentina.baradel@unipd.it) per ottenere il link al meeting Zoom.

Il Direttore del Dipartimento
Jacopo BONETTO

For more information: https://www.beniculturali.unipd.it/www/dbc-news/conferenza-the-cleveland-fountain-paris-ca-1320-and-multisensory-art-history-30-novembre-2022-aula-11-complesso-b-pellegrino/

Conference: Vernacular Architecture Group, 7-8 January 2023 (Bursaries 3 December 2022; Registration 15 December 2022)

Vernacular Architecture Group

Winter Conference

Trans-National Connections - Vernacular Architecture in Britain & Beyond

College Court, University of Leicester, 7-8 January 2023

The winter conference takes a theme of current interest and explores it in depth through papers given by experts in the field. This year we welcome bookings from non-members as well as members (although we hope that non-members would like to join the group - please see the Membership page for details). Enquiries: please email winter-conference@vag.org.uk.

Vernacular architecture studies in the UK have often focused on local places and regions within the nations of England, Scotland and Wales. This conference aims to widen our horizons and look at the connections between architecture in Britain and patterns of building in Europe, Scandinavia and across the Atlantic. Speakers will address the theme of building traditions in Britain and their relationship to patterns elsewhere. Papers focusing on Sweden, Dutch houses, France, and the Channel Islands, sit alongside investigations into roof and wall construction in Britain and Europe, and 'trans-national' connections within Britain on the Anglo-Welsh and Anglo-Scottish Borders, as well as around the Irish Sea, and in Shetland and the North Atlantic Isles.

The programme includes:

  • ATLANTIC CONNECTIONS

    • Matthew Johnson - “English” Building and Landscape in the Northern Atlantic.

    • Alison McQuitty - Houses of the Green Caribbean: Vernacular Architecture in Suriname.

    • Ian Tait - What Made North Atlantic Buildings (Dis)Similar?

  • NORTH SEA CONNECTIONS

    • Gabri van Tussenbroek - The Dutch urban housing landscape (c.1150-1650): timber-frames, bricks and stones, geographical similarities and differences.

    • Karl-Magnus Melin - Twelfth-Century Carpentry Art in the Diocese of Lund and England: Similarities and Differences in Craft.

  • EVENING LECTURE

    • Lee Prosser - Timber Imports into England.

  • ROOFS (& WALLS) IN EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

    • Nat Alcock - Cruck Buildings in Europe: Coincidence or Connection?

    • Chris Currie - Crown-posts and Box-Frames in South-East Britain: French, German, native, or what? – and why?

    • Paul Reed - How Medieval Carpenters Set Out Roofs and Buildings in European Perspective.

  • TRANS-NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN & THE ISLES

    • Duncan James - Patterns of Vernacular Building on the Anglo-Welsh Border.

    • Catherine Kent - “Neither Castle nor Tower, but a House of Convenient Strength and Defence”: Classifying Buildings on the Anglo-Scottish Border.

    • Alex Gibbons - Earth Building as a Conscious Choice – Craftsmanship and Tradition Shared Throughout the Celtic and Irish Seas.

  • CONNECTIONS ACROSS THE CHANNEL

    • Nicolas Vernot - Magico-religious Marks and Practice in Vernacular Architecture: A French perspective.

    • Callum Tostevin-Hall - “Hearth and Home” A Comparison of Early Integrated Houses in the Channel Islands and Elsewhere.

    • Philippe Favre - Moullins Aisled Hall: So French, or Not?

    • John Allan - Breton Woodworkers in South-West England, 1500-50.

The conference is open to all, and full details and booking form can be downloaded here (booking closes 15 December 2022):

A small number of bursaries are available for students or early career professionals to enable their attendance at the conference. For details, see Winter Conference Bursaries. Due by 3 December 2022

For more information: https://www.vag.org.uk/conferences.htm

New Video: ICMA Viewpoints Book Launch, Destroyed-Disappeared-Lost-Never Were edited by Beate Fricke and Aden Kumler

ICMA Viewpoints Book Launch

Destroyed-Disappeared-Lost-Never Were edited by Beate Fricke and Aden Kumler

Online, Wednesday, 31 August at 3-4pm ET

with Beate Fricke, Aden Kumler, Roland Betancourt, Eleanor Goodman, Elizabeth Sears, Sonja Drimmer, and Michelle McCoy

To watch: https://www.medievalart.org/special-online-lectures

To write about works that cannot be sensually perceived involves considerable strain. Absent the object, art historians must stretch their methods to, or even past, the breaking point. This concise volume addresses the problems inherent in studying medieval works of art, artifacts, and monuments that have disappeared, have been destroyed, or perhaps never existed in the first place.

The contributors to this volume are confronted with the full expanse of what they cannot see, handle, or know. Connecting object histories, the anthropology of images, and historiography, they seek to understand how people have made sense of the past by examining objects, images, and architectural and urban spaces. Intersecting these approaches is a deep current of reflection upon the theorization of historical analysis and the ways in which the past is inscribed into layers of evidence that are only ever revealed in the historian’s present tense.

Highly original and theoretically sophisticated, this volume will stimulate debate among art historians about the critical practices used to confront the formative presence of destruction, loss, obscurity, and existential uncertainty within the history of art and the study of historical material and visual cultures. In addition to the editors, the contributors to this volume are Michele Bacci, Claudia Brittenham, Sonja Drimmer, Jaś Elsner, Peter Geimer, Danielle B. Joyner, Kristopher W. Kersey, Lena Liepe, Meekyung MacMurdie, and Michelle McCoy.

New Videos: Mining the Collection Sessions from the International Congress of Medieval Studies 2022

Now Available on the ICMA Website:

Mining the Collections I-V

Interational Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo

9-13 May 2022

The Mining the Collection sessions from the International Congress of Medieval Studies 2022 are now available to watch online: https://www.medievalart.org/mining-the-collection. Organised by Dr. Shirin Fozi and curators of the Aga Khan Museum (Toronto), the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Dumbarton Oaks Museum (Washington, D.C.), and the Cleveland Art Museum (Cleveland), pieces of the collections are explored in-depth by numerous scholars.


MONDAY 9 MAY 2022

Session 43
1:00-2:30pm EDT
Mining the Collection I: Aga Khan Museum, Toronto

Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Shirin Fozi, Univ. of Pittsburgh; Michael Chagnon, Aga Khan Museum
Presider: Michael Chagnon

Oliphant
Mariam Rosser-Owen, Victoria & Albert Museum
Albarello
Marcus Milwright, Univ. of Victoria
Base of an Incense Burner
Ruba Kana'an, Univ. of Toronto–Mississauga


TUESDAY 10 MAY 2022

Session 107
10:00-11:30 am PDT
Mining the Collection II: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Shirin Fozi, Univ. of Pittsburgh; Elizabeth Morrison, J. Paul Getty Museum
Presider: Elizabeth Morrison

Wenceslaus Psalter
Meredith Cohen, Univ. of California–Los Angeles
Ovid, Excerpts from Heroines
Cynthia Brown, Univ. of California–Santa Barbara
Bifolium from the Pink Qur'an
Linda Komaroff, Los Angeles County Museum of Art


WEDNESDAY 11 MAY 2022

Session 171
1:00-2:30pm EDT
Mining the Collection III: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Shirin Fozi, Univ. of Pittsburgh; C. Griffith Mann, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Presider: C. Griffith Mann

Magdeburg Ivory
Jacqueline Lombard, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ivory Mirror Backs
Scott Miller, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ivory Panels with Peter and Paul and Ivory Mortar
Nicole Pulichene, Metropolitan Museum of Art


THURSDAY 12 MAY 2022

Session 229
1:00-2:30pm EDT
Mining the Collection IV: Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington, D.C.

Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Shirin Fozi, Univ. of Pittsburgh; Jonathan Shea, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Presider: Jonathan Shea

Seal of Constantine, Imperial Protospatharios
Nikos Kontogiannis, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Seal of John, Metropolitan of Mytilene
Eric McGeer, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Seal of John, Candlemaker
Alex Magnolia, Univ. of Minnesota–Twin Cities


FRIDAY 13 MAY 2022

Session 307
1:00-2:30pm EDT
Mining the Collection V: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

Sponsor: International Center of Medieval Art (ICMA); Medieval Institute, Western Michigan Univ.
Organizer: Shirin Fozi, Univ. of Pittsburgh; Gerhard Lutz, Cleveland Museum of Art
Presider: Gerhard Lutz

Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra Manuscript
Reed O'Mara, Case Western Reserve Univ.
Fragment of an Icon of the Crucifixion
Elizabeth S. Bolman, Case Western Reserve Univ.
Death of the Virgin
Elina Gertsman, Case Western Reserve Univ.

EAST OF BYZANTIUM LECTURE: DYNASTIC CHANGE, FAMILY NETWORKS AND FEMALE GENEALOGIES IN MEDIEVAL ARMENIA (11TH–13TH C.), ZARA POGOSSIAN, November, 15, 2022, 12:00-1:30 PM (ONLINE)

DYNASTIC CHANGE, FAMILY NETWORKS AND FEMALE GENEALOGIES IN MEDIEVAL ARMENIA (11TH–13TH C.)

EAST OF BYZANTIUM LECTURE

ZARA POGOSSIAN
UNIVERSITY OF FLORENCE

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022 | 12:00 PM–1:30 PM (EST, UTC -5) | ZOOM

THE GLADZOR GOSPELS (1300-1307 AD), FOLIO 469, WEDDING AT CANA, DETAIL. UCLA, ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS COLLECTION, NO. 1. IMAGE: HTTPS://DIGITAL.LIBRARY.UCLA.EDU/CATALOG/ARK:/21198/ZZ0009GX6G.

This lecture will focus on a period of medieval Armenian history – eleventh to late thirteenth centuries – that was characterized by a gradual deterioration and break-down of its until then traditional social structure based on land-holding military families known as nakharars. In this context a number of new military men, mostly with no illustrious lineage and/or previous connection to certain specific regions, rose to power. As they sought ways of legitimizing their control of recently conquered land and resources in various parts of historical Armenia, marriage alliances and, hence, the building of new family networks via women acquired increasing importance. This is especially true in the case of wives that came from older, prestigious dynasties which had lost or were about to lose their significance. There are also cases of women who were themselves from ‘new families’ but who played a key role in entering local networks of power in different ways. These general considerations will be illustrated on specific cases bringing to the audience’s attention the significance of women from (new or old) élite families, particularly from the end of Bagratid rule, and through Seljuk and Mongol (particularly Ilkhanid) periods. The inter-religious aspects of such family networks will be equally highlighted. Although the talk will address various regions of historical Armenia, greater attention will be paid to Syunik‘, reflecting my on-going research-in-progress.

Zara Pogossian is a specialist in medieval Armenian history, culture and religion, especially in relation to other peoples, cultures and religions in the Near East and Asia Minor. She is Associate Professor of Byzantine Civilization at the University of Florence, and the Principal Investigator of the ERC Project ArmEn: Armenia Entangled: Connectivity and Cultural Encounters in Medieval Eurasia 9th–14th Centuries. In her research, Professor Pogossian has explored such diverse topics as female asceticism and ascetic communities in early Christian Armenia, the role of women in the spread of Christianity in Armenia, monastic establishments and territory control, hagiography and cult of relics, and inter-religious (Jewish-Christian-Muslim) dynamics in medieval Armenia, among others. She has contributed significantly to the study of apocalyptic traditions in Armenian, especially between the 11th and 13th centuries. Her critical edition, with comments and a thorough historical study of Agat‘angel, On the End of the World, an anonymous Armenian apocalyptic text which reflects aspects of Late Antique Jewish-Christian debates, is forthcoming. She is the author of a book acclaimed by reviewers (The Letter of Love and Concord, Brill 2011), as well as numerous articles and book reviews. She has been the recipient of several prestigious fellowships, such as from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Käte Hamburger Collegium at the Center for Religious Studies (University of Bochum, Germany) and the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (University of Erlangen, Germany). Dr. Pogossian is on the editorial board of the on-line journal Entangled Religions and a co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of Armeniaca: International Journal of Armenian Studies (first issue forthcoming in September 2022). She is one of the founding members and general editors of the series Eastern Christian Cultures in Contact (Brepols editors). She regularly serves on the evaluation committees of the European Institutes for Advanced Study (EURIAS), European Science Foundation, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

This lecture will take place live on ZOOM, followed by a question and answer period. Please register to receive the Zoom link.

REGISTER | POSTER | TIME ZONE CONVERTER

Speculative Geometry and the Opening Page of ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", Professor Arthur Bahr, University of Wisconsin-Madison (In-Person), November 18, 2022, 17:00-18:30 CST

Speculative Geometry and the Opening Page of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”

Professor Arthur Bahr (Literature, MIT)


18 November 2022, 17:00-18:30 CST

Medieval Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

7191 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St., Madison, WI

Weapons and wounds feature prominently in the first illustration of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which depicts the Green Knight’s entry, challenge, and beheading in a single tableau. As this talk will show, these weapons are more than thematic; they also help create a complex set of embedded triangles whose angles and sight-lines preview the poem to come. This is significant because the first page of the poem, which appears opposite this illustration on folio 91/95r, is like none other in the manuscript—especially its large, eleven-line gap at the top of the page. Although not representationally illustrative like its facing page, the anomalous text-block of 91/95r nevertheless illustrates the perceptual challenges posed by Sir Gawain’s literary and numerical structures. The 90/94v+91/95r opening thus previews and enacts, in miniature, the challenges and delights of the poem it introduces. Read closely, and speculatively, it offers additional interpretive tools with which to chase the endless, gordian knot of Sir Gawain.

The lecture will be preceded by a graduate student and faculty workshop at 14:00 CST. Please contact Professor Lisa Cooper (lhcooper@wisc.edu) to participate.

Co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Medieval Studies Program, the Anonymous Fund, and the Department of English.

For more information: https://arthistory.wisc.edu/venue/7191-helen-c-white-hall/

CFP: MNEMOSΥNE: Forgetting, Remembering, and Rediscovering Classical Antiquity, Postgraduate and Early Career Conference (In-Person) 4-5 May 2023, DEADLINE November 25, 2022

MNEMOSΥNE 
Forgetting, Remembering, and Rediscovering Classical Antiquity

A Postgraduate Symposium (In-Person) 
With a Keynote Speech from Prof Constanze Güthenke

4-5 May 2023

Senate House, London

DEADLINE: 25 November 2022


The Warburg Institute, in conjunction with the Institute of Classical Studies, will host its fourth Postgraduate Symposium: Mnemosyne: Forgetting, Remembering, and Rediscovering Classical Antiquity. 


In Antiquity, Mnemosyne, goddess of Memory, was the mother of the muses who were considered the source and mediating function of all knowledge expressed in the arts, myths and sciences of their time. The embodiment of ancestral memory endures to this day in sites, processes and narratives of contemporary culture, which capture the human imagination and where a sense of continuity is persistent, interrupted, rediscovered or diverted.  

 

The aim of this conference is to explore the role of memory in the survival of classical culture across the centuries. It traces the repetition or discontinuity of the classical as it flows, crystallises, or is disrupted, in various aspects of cultural expression. 

Please note that this is an in-person event. Registration will open shortly. 


Call for Papers

Possible themes may include but are not limited to:   

Arts and Heritage 

  • Collecting and exhibiting cultures: fashioning, distorting and preserving memory in the history of collecting. How do museums and archives function as sites of memory? How has the memory of the classical world been produced, sustained, or contested by means of the collection, preservation, and display of antiquities?     

  • The survival of classical images: reappearance and reinterpretation of figural motifs and themes from the Renaissance to present times (narratives, allegories, personifications, pathosformeln). 

  • Making and unmaking memory: the construction and destruction of monuments (damnatio memoriae) as a means of preserving and erasing memory.  

  • Critical heritage studies: What is does the “reconstruction” or “conservation” of ancient heritage sites involve, practically and ethically? What does it mean to remember with ruins? 

Psychological and religious narratives 

  • Soul and soul-making: Remembering, forgetting and rediscovering classical antiquity in psychological theories and practices across time and space. How is classical mythology, philosophy and literature received in the works of psychoanalysts like Jung and Freud?  

  • Revisioning and reinterpreting ancient motifs in spiritual practices as they appear in the sciences, arts and society from antiquity to the present. For example, how do ancient theurgic rituals reappear in later liturgical and magical practices? 

  • Cognitive classics: How can modern psychological insights into the nature of visual, spatial, episodic, and auditory memory aid us in the study of the ancient world and its survivals?  

Sites of preservation and transmission 

  • Mnemotechnics: Using the ‘method of places’ (loci), whereby symbols are arranged within imagined architectural space, ancient people were capable of performing prodigious feats of recollection. How have the ancient memory arts been received in later rhetoric, philosophy, religion, magic and other fields? 

  • Methods of information management and their impact on memory production: In the modern era, the art of memory has been supplanted by systematic techniques of cataloguing, indexing, and digitisation. How do these methods for recording antiquity shape the way classical culture is remembered and received, from encyclopaedias to twenty-first century digital classics projects? 

  • Speak Memory: in early antiquity, poetic performance was fundamentally an art of memory, with the Homeric rhapsode being able to recall songs of prodigious length from memory. How has the classical oral tradition been received and re-activated in later performance arts, including spoken poetry and music? 


We invite papers of 20 minutes in the fields of art history, intellectual history, cultural history, psychology, Renaissance studies, literary studies, media and film studies, museum/heritage studies, and related disciplines. 

​​

The Symposium is intended for postgraduate students and early-career researchers. Proposals should be sent to mnemosyneconference@gmail.com by 25 November 2022. This should include: 

  • An abstract, in English, of no more than 300 words, for a 20 minute paper, in PDF or Word format.

  • A short biography of one paragraph, indicating full name, affiliation, and contact information.

The organisers wish to express their gratitude to the Classical Association and the Society for Neo-Latin Studies for sponsoring the event. Limited funding is available to help cover travel expenses.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://mnemosyneconferenc.wixsite.com/mnemosyne-conference

CALL FOR PAPERS FLIER

Franklin Research Grants, American Philosophical Society, DEADLINE: December 1, 2022

Franklin Research Grants

American Philosophical Society

Deadline: December 1, 2022

Scope

The Franklin program is particularly designed to help meet the costs of travel to libraries and archives for research purposes; the purchase of microfilm, photocopies, or equivalent research materials; the costs associated with fieldwork; or laboratory research expenses.

Franklin grants are made for noncommercial research. They are not intended to meet the expenses of attending conferences or the costs of publication. The Society does not pay overhead or indirect costs to any institution, and grant funds are not to be used to pay income tax on the award. Grants will not be made to replace salary during a leave of absence or earnings from summer teaching; pay living expenses while working at home; cover the costs of consultants or research assistants; or purchase permanent equipment such as computers, cameras, tape recorders, or laboratory apparatus.

Deadlines

For applications and two letters of support:

December 1, 2022, for a March 2023 decision for work beginning April 2023 through January 2024

Note that end dates will be considered flexible/negotiable due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and closures.

Eligibility

Applicants are expected to have a doctorate or to have published work of doctoral character and quality. Ph.D. candidates are not eligible to apply, but the Society is particularly interested in supporting the work of young scholars who have recently received the doctorate. Independent scholars and faculty members at all four-year and two-year research and non-research institutions are welcome to apply provided that all eligibility guidelines are met. American citizens and residents of the United States may use their Franklin awards at home or abroad. Foreign nationals not affiliated with a U.S. institution must use their Franklin awards for research in the United States. Applicants who have previously received a Franklin grant may reapply after an interval of two years.

Awards

Funding is offered up to a maximum of $6,000. Grants are not retroactive.

Grants are payable to the individual applicant. Franklin grants are taxable income, but the Society is not required to report payments. It is recommended that grant recipients discuss their reporting obligations with their tax advisors.

Letters of Support

Note that letters of support must directly address the project outlined in the proposal. Submission of letters through Interfolio is discouraged as these letters are often too long (and may be truncated at the point at which they reach limit of allowable space) and not related to the project at hand.

Requirements

Project and financial reports are due one month after completion of the funded portion of the work, per the time frame indicated on the proposal. Instructions will be provided with notification of an award.

For More Information (ie., Applicant Information, FAQs, Contact Information, Current and Past Recipients) and To Apply: https://www.amphilsoc.org/grants/franklin-research-grants

BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 22-23, 2022 (ONLINE - GMT)

BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION POSTGRADUATE CONFERENCE

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, 22-23 NOVEMBER 2022

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

This year the conference will take place online via Zoom across two days.

USE THIS LINK TO REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE.


PROGRAMME

TUESDAY 22 NOVEMBER 2022

1.30 - 2:30 PM (GMT)
PANEL 1: IMAGES AND DEVOTION

Anastasios Kantaras (Doctor of the School of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki) The apotropaic function of the cross in Byzantine epigrams: some representative cases

Harriet Johnson (Chaplain, St Augustine’s College of Theology, London) The Turbulent Priest and the Mystery Baby: A devotional reading of the ‘Peterborough’ Becket reliquary

2:30 - 2:45 PM (GMT) - BREAK

2:45 - 3:45 PM (GMT)
PANEL 2: SEEING AND PICTURING ANGELS AND ARCHANGELS

Christina Tasiadami (MA Student in Byzantine Archaeology, University of Ioannina) The iconography of angels from the ancient world to the Byzantine period

Emma Louise Leahy (Doctoral candidate in History of Europe, Sapienza Università di Roma) Archangels in Orthodox Iconography: Development of the Archangel Cult and Church Decoration in Bulgarian Lands

END OF DAY 1

WEDNESDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2022

2:30 - 3:50 PM (GMT)
PANEL 3: NETWORKS OF ARTISTS AND MATERIALS

Elvin Akbulut Daglier (Independent Researcher) Mosaic makers in Late Antique Anatolia

Michela Young (PhD student, University of Cambridge) For a Vallombrosan artistic network in fifteenth century Florence and beyond

Rafaël Villa (PhD candidate, University of Geneva) Rediscovered artists of the Norman stained glass from the late Middle Ages preserved in England

3:50 - 4:00 PM (GMT) - BREAK

4:00 - 5:30 PM (GMT)
PANEL 4: NEW CONSIDERATIONS OF THE VISUAL MATERIAL

Abigail Brown (MA History of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art) Some Oak Sculptures in St Mary’s Hall: Art, Display and Identity in Late Medieval Coventry

Francesco Capitummino (PhD student, University of Cambridge) The ambo and paschal candelabrum of the Cappella Palatina. A new assessment

Lorenzo Mercuri (PhD student, University of Rome "La Sapienza") The Eglise Du Temple Of Paris And The English “Round Churches Movement”: New archaeological updates and missing data for a phenomenology of architectural reproduction “ad instar Sancti Sepulcri”.

Isabelle M. Ostertag (PhD student, University of Virginia) Tower of Ivory: The Sculptural Program of the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral and Digital Modeling

END OF CONFERENCE

REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE.

PROGRAMME FOR THE CONFERENCE

MEDIEVAL BLACK SEA SEMINAR SERIES: JANE KERSHAW AND JONATHAN SHEPARD. 1 December 2022 4:30-6:00 PM ET (IN-PERSON AND ONLINE)

MEDIEVAL BLACK SEA SEMINAR SERIES

JANE KERSHAW, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; JONATHAN SHEPARD, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

THU, 12/1 · 4:30 PM—6:00 PM · 211 DICKINSON HALL OR ZOOM

CENTER FOR COLLABORATIVE HISTORY

Jane Kershaw, University of Oxford | “Across the Black and Caspian Seas: Silver and the Viking Expansion”

  • Jonathan Shepard, University of Oxford [Zoom] | “Furs, Slaves and the Black Sea”

Zoom Registration – For those who wish to attend this seminar virtually.

Registration is not required for in-person attendance of this seminar. We kindly ask that you please follow the current University Covid-19 guidelines.

Sponsored by: Center for Collaborative History | Department of Art & Archaeology | Department of Religion | Humanities Council | Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies | Program in Medieval Studies | Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies | The Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies | University Center for Human Values

The recording of any meeting, activity or event relating to the Medieval Black Sea Project (and/or distribution of that recording) is not authorised without advance notice to, consultation with and express permission from the organisers and administrators of the project. Unauthorised recording is a violation of the policy of Princeton University and may result in disciplinary action. For further information on university policies, please consult with the Office of the General Counsel.

For more information: https://humanities.princeton.edu/event/medieval-black-sea-seminar-series-2/

Center for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance Summer School (11-14 July 2023), Early Bird 28 February 2023/Registration 30 June 2023/Fellowship 15 April 2023

Center for the Study of Medicine and the Body in the Renaissance Summer School

Intensity and the Grades of Nature:

Heat, Colour, and Sound in the Ordering of Pre-Modern Cosmos: 1200-1600

11-14 July 2023

Organised by: Fabrizio Bigotti

Keynote Speakers: Tawrin Baker, Georgiana Hedesan, Martin Kemp, Andreas Lammer, Alexander Marr, Vivian Nutton, Sylvain Roudaut, Alain Touwaide, Giulia Martina Weston

Guest Speaker: Linda Karshan

Venue: Domus Comeliana


Format: Hybrid

Early Bird Deadline: 28 February

Regular Deadline: 30 June 

Santorio Fellowship Deadline: 15 April

Held in the stunning premises and terrace of the Domus Comeliana, this summer school will explore how heat, colour, and sound have been used, conceptualised and graded in the pre-modern cosmos shaping both disciplines of knowledge and everyday life.

Central to the various cosmologies that developed throughout the period 1200-1600 was the idea that phenomena are subject to a variation in intensity. Intensity determined why objects were of higher or lesser temperature, speed, brightness, porous or dense texture, pitch, and so forth. And yet, intensity also had wider metaphysical, theological, political and cultural implications: it was instrumental to justify the order of the cosmos, the necessity of evil, and the need for hierarchies in maintaining social peace, with shades of colour especially used to mark social status, both in garments and buildings.

Linking back to Greek philosophy and medicine (i.e Aristotle, Galen, Dioscorides) theories of intensity (intensio et remissio formarum) blossomed in the late middle ages but remained vital in early modern philosophy (e.g. Galileo, Leibniz) up to the eighteenth century, with Baumgarten and Kant attempting at measuring the quantity of virtue (quantitas virtutis) necessary to the human subject to perceive (aesthetica) an object in the external world.

On the one hand, medieval and early modern theories of intensity developed an ancient desideratum to classify the world in a hierarchical order, also known as scala naturae or ‘the great chain of being’. At the extremes of the ‘chain’ were located respectively God, as the metaphysical grantor of order and the embodiment of perfection, and matter, embodying imperfection and chaos. However, on the other hand, the pre-modern period moved beyond previous attempts, as the cosmos is now spatialised and measurable. As comprehended within two opposites (i.e. perfection/imperfection, hot/cold, up/down, etc.), change occurs within “a range” (latitudo), wherein objects acquire or lose certain “degrees” (gradus) of the quality that is being intensified; thus hotter or brighter objects are so because they participate more in the specific properties (formae) of heat or light. In this sense, it is significant that, while the modern cosmos was consciously built on “number”, “weight” and “measure”, the fabric of the pre-modern world was textured in grades and shades.

Grades and shades were at once quantities and values, representing perfection or imperfection in theology, purity or impurity of distillation in alchemical preparations, physiological or pathological functioning of the body, where humours were refined by cooking and where everything, from fever to pulse frequency, was ordered in degrees of intensity. In cosmology, light was given a preeminent role, as Robert Grosseteste (1175-1253) developed his cosmology of light where intensity shapes every aspect of the universe, and Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) ordered Inferno in rounds of degrading sin while Paradiso in spheres of ascending beatitude.

A new vision of the cosmos prompted a larger use of visual aids, such as diagrams both to visualise change and to measure intensity. Health starts being measured in latitudes, the temperature in degrees, herbs and drugs by their colours and the intensity of their effects on the human body. Colours are used to represent aspects of the material world but also to highlight status, dignity, conceptual clarity, as well as religious and seasonal cycles while the sounds of the French Ars nova (14th century) intensify the rhythmic capacity of music by developing a new virtuosity, Flemish masters establish the multilayered notation of polyphony (15th century) and the Venetian Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli at the end of the 16th-century start experimenting with piano and forte.

Although instrumental to the constitution of the pre-modern cosmos, intensity and associated theories have remained poorly studied in modern scholarship, with the bulk of studies available in German only. Attempting to fill the gap and to deliver the thematic fullness of the pre-modern cosmos to a larger audience, this summer school features world-leading experts discussing relevant aspects of intensity in alchemy, medicine, theology, natural philosophy, music, art, optics, as well as social and religious settings.

Organisation

The summer school is open to scholars of all careers and stages. As per previous events, it takes place in the outstanding setting of the Domus Comeliana (50m from the leaning tower) and it spans four days, articulated as 3+1, namely three days of lectures and guided visits to the city, plus a final day dedicated entirely to workshops, roundtables, presentation and discussion of attendees’ reports. 

The summer school will present and discuss a variety of verbal and non-verbal sources (e.g. manuscripts, images, music pieces, and artefacts) in a multidisciplinary approach that aims at attracting and welcoming scholars with different backgrounds, interests and expertise.

The Summer School features three hands-on workshops on texts, materials, and instruments and one performance-based workshop. Workshop I (M. Kemp) will involve participants in the selection of passages and visual material from Leonardo’s extensive output and in the effort to contextualise his techniques as fitting his optical theories. Workshop II (G.M. Weston) will focus on the Renaissance colour palette and the mixture of pigments involving attendees in the mixing of colours to obtain shades in accordance with 15th- and 16th-century manuals. Workshop III (F. Bigotti) will be devoted to hands-on experimentation with the replica of Santorio’s pulsilogium, an early modern instrument invented by Santorio Santori (1561-1636) to ascertain the ‘degree’ and ‘latitude’ of the pulse. Participants will be invited to experiment with the instrument in small groups, by measuring and calibrating the instrument so as to revive the experience of using what has been called “the first precision instrument in the history of medicine”. Workshop IV (L. Karshan) held by distinguished artist and honorary fellow Linda Karshan will explore the ways in which contemporary art practice has embodied Renaissance concepts of latitude as especially related to the motions of the body and the soul.

To engage fully with the speakers during this four-day experience, attendees are strongly invited to elaborate their own contributions on the topics discussed, either in the form of PowerPoint presentations and/or as short papers (max. 5 min). These will be followed by thematic roundtables focusing on the analysis of non-verbal sources, including relevant artefacts, images, videos, and music tracks. Roundtables’ topics can also be proposed by the attendees upon reaching an agreement amongst at least 3 people. For organisational reasons, only two such round tables can be proposed and must be communicated to the panel at least 3 weeks prior to the beginning of the Summer School.

For more information: https://csmbr.fondazionecomel.org/events/the-intensity-of-nature/

CFP: Medieval Association of the Pacific Annual Conference, 20-23 April 2023, DUE 15 December 2022

Call for Papers

Medieval Association of the Pacific Annual Conference

April 20-23, 2023

The Medieval Association of the Pacific welcomes paper and session proposals from all areas of medieval studies for our 2023 conference, including overlapping areas of early modern and late antique studies. MAP encourages paper submissions from students, emerging professionals, and independent scholars.


Proposals are due 15 December 2022. Individual proposals should include (1) a cover page with the author’s name, discipline, and contact information, including any institutional affiliation, and e-mail address and (2) a title and abstract of approximately 500 words. Session proposals should include abstracts for the three papers as well as the contact information for each participant and session organizer. Please email all proposals by 15 December 2022, attached as .doc or .pdf files with “MAP 2023” in the subject line to katiejo.lariviere@mtangel.edu.

MAP will be meeting in the beautiful Pacific Northwest United States, on the lands of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde in Western Oregon. This year’s conference events will mainly occur in Eugene, with events downtown and on the University of Oregon campus, but will also feature a Sunday send-off with Mass, monks, and manuscripts at Mount Angel Abbey (add-on at registration). Online papers or panels (virtual presentations) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

MAP 2023 seeks paper and session proposals interested in medieval technologies (broadly defined), and connections between medieval and 21st century technologies, to form a thematic focus for the conference. Session organizers should strive for a balance of gender and career stage among their participants. As is the MAP tradition, papers do not need to relate to this theme to gain acceptance.

The subjects of technology and innovation have long interested scholars of the medieval and early modern periods and their associated fields, who have employed these terms with a range of meanings. Medieval and early modern authors, thinkers, and artists produced a vast and influential corpus using technologies old and new, inspiring innovations in thinking and making while they navigated the social implications of the changes brought about by technologies. Likewise, scholars of these periods have recently been stimulated by the theory and practice of technologies and their consequences. This thematic focus will discover and query concepts, theories, literatures, the arts, modern perspectives, and knowledge creation, that are invested in and affected by the technologies and innovations of the Middle Ages and adjacent periods. Papers may consider both medieval technologies and the application of modern technologies in scholarly interpretation of the Middle Ages. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Technologies of production

  • Cultural technologies, including the arts, literature, religion, economy, etc.

  • Restricted, dangerous, or forbidden technologies

  • The relationship between technology and technique and/or craft

  • Code or tech-specific language(s)

  • Future casting, or technologies of prophecy

  • Epistemologies or ontologies of technology

  • Technologies of selfhood and/or identity

  • Digital Humanities in the 21st century as applied to medieval studies

  • Technology and teaching in medieval studies


MAP is pleased to offer prizes for papers associated with this conference. Please see our website for more information - https://www.medievalpacific.org/.