Iconography Archive
-
The Eucharistic Man of Sorrows in Late Medieval Art
Posted on April 28, 2013 | No CommentsEucharistic devotion also found it's ways of visual expression in the art of the period. Numerous new iconographical types were created in late medieval art for the purpose of visualizing the mystery of the Eucharist. -
“One Woman with Many Faces”: Imaginings of Mary Magdalen in Medieval and Contemporary Texts
Posted on March 31, 2013 | No CommentsThis project explores these contradictory and myriad imaginings of Mary Magdalen, emphasizing particularly the connections to be made between those emerging from the later Middle Ages and in the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. -
The Persuasive Power of a Mother’s Breast: The Most Desperate Act of the Virgin Mary’s Advocacy
Posted on March 17, 2013 | No CommentsThe image of the Virgo Lactans orMaria Lactans (the image of the Virgin Mary suckling the Child Jesus), which occurs as early as the third century in the catacomb of Priscilla inRome, later spread ing across Europe, is found in a number of Irish sources. -
The Cult of Saint Louis and Capetian Interests in the Hours of Jeanne d’Evreux
Posted on March 10, 2013 | No CommentsThroughout the Middle Ages the Capetians labeled themselves as the ‘Most Christian of Kings,’ and to have a saint in the family legitimated their claim. -
Making the martyr: the liturgical persona of Saint Thomas Becket in visual imagery
Posted on February 10, 2013 | No CommentsHow was the historical figure of the worldly chancellor reconciled to the saintly archbishop who was martyred for his faith on the floor of Canterbury Cathedral? One of the most important vehicles of expression in the Middle Ages was the liturgy. -
Picturing Gregory: The Evolving Imagery of Canon Law
Posted on February 4, 2013 | No CommentsThis paper surveys images created for the opening of the Liber extra between around 1240 and 1350, from a variety of standpoints: iconography, page layout, patrons and readers - and also suggests possible ideological agendas that might be embedded in the illustrations. -
Reconstruction of the diet in a mediaeval monastic community from the coast of Belgium
Posted on January 31, 2013 | No CommentsThe aim of the present article is to report the results of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis on skeletons from a Belgian mediaeval population, and to look at variations in diet that may relate to age and social status. -
The Mystery of the Marble Man and his Hat: A Reconsideration of the Bari Episcopal Throne
Posted on December 31, 2012 | No CommentsUntil the twentieth century, the throne was universally held to have been sculpted in or immediately before 1098 for Elias, the abbot of San Nicola and archbishop of Bari and Canosa. -
Church Wall Paintings and Mosaics: Principles of their arrangement and relationship to church architecture
Posted on December 16, 2012 | No CommentsThe history of Orthodox church wall-painting and mosaics, East and West, is a very rich one. On the one hand it reveals tremendous creativity in the Church’s response to architectural and pastoral changes. On the other hand it shows how consistently it has been faithful to unchanging spiritual principles. -
Fools, Devils, and Alchemy: Secular Images in the Monastery
Posted on December 9, 2012 | No CommentsThe fool is one of the most popular and stable character types throughout cultures and times. This is especially true of medieval Europe. The fool, sometimes a jester, sometimes a clown or a trickster, is always recognizable through his abnormal appearance. -
Hot Holiday Reads!
Posted on November 23, 2012 | No CommentsPut down those turkey left-overs and check out some of these hot holiday reads! -
A Marginal Occupation? The Medieval Laundress and her Work
Posted on November 22, 2012 | No CommentsThe wider study of an ostensibly menial activity that, with certain notable exceptions, offered insecure and poorly paid employment to illiterate women of low status is certainly beset with problems. -
Iconography of the Unicorn from India to the Italian Middle Ages
Posted on October 25, 2012 | No CommentsThe earliest unicorn figure discovered in Iran dates to the proto-Iranian cultureof Amlash (9th-8th century B.C.). This consists of a small bronze statue representinga goat with a frontal horn. The unicorn measures four centimeters in height and sixand a half centimeters in length and was part of some grave goods -
Worlds writ small: four studies on miniature architectural forms in the medieval Middle East
Posted on October 1, 2012 | No CommentsWhile academic discussion of ornament within medieval Islamic art has laboured much over the codification and meaning of certain forms, there has been relatively little research to date on the visual and iconographic function of architecture as ornament in this context...This thesis proposes, first and foremost, that there is significant cultural meaning inherent in the use of architecture as an inspiration for the non-essential formal qualities of portable objects from the medieval Islamic world. -
Construction evolution of medieval tuscan monasteries: The case of badia San Savino in Cascina (Pisa)
Posted on September 8, 2012 | No CommentsThe most important stage of this preliminary study has been the historical analysis: the history of the S. Savino complex is marked by many alterations and modifications to the original structures, presumably carried out to adapt them to the demands of different (Ceccarelli Lemut and Garzella, 1996 -Pazzagli, 1985- Redi, 1984). ages and different functions -
The Italo-Cretan Religious Painting and The Byzantine-Palaeologan Legacy
Posted on August 19, 2012 | No CommentsThe paper aims to introduce the last significant school of painting, which was nurtured by the Byzantine sources, the so-called Italo-Cretan school, whose presence and influence lasted for more than 300 years. Its works are perceived not just as mere objects of veneration but have also high artistic and marketing value. -
Harley MS. 3469: Splendor Solis or Splendour of the Sun – A German Alchemical Manuscript
Posted on August 13, 2012 | No CommentsSplendor Solis oder Sonnenglanz is the title of an illuminated manuscript that can rightfully be called one of the principal works of the alchemical tradition (fig. 1). The text survives in many witnesses dating from the early sixteenth to the nineteenth century, of which Harl. MS. 3469 is definitely the most famous and best preserved example. -
Comparing Pilgrim Souvenirs and Trinity Chapel Windows at Canterbury Cathedral
Posted on August 5, 2012 | No CommentsThe story begins with two tin pilgrim ampullae2 made before 1220 in Canterbury, England, that were found centuries later, one in France (now in the Cluny Museum) and one in Norway (now in the Historical Museum in Bergen, Norway). -
The Representation of Christ in Byzantine Hermitages: A Comparison
Posted on June 28, 2012 | No CommentsThe spread of Christianity had a tremendous effect on the culture and life of Cappadocia. Christianity was prevalent throughout the region as early as the 2nd-century A.D.1 During the 8th and 9th-centuries Arab invasions began to deplete the population and threatened to overcome the empire. -
Domesticity, Intimacy, and Pictorial Space in the Fourteenth & Fifteenth Century Italian Renaissance
Posted on June 28, 2012 | No CommentsThis connection between feeling and seeing is often exemplified in paintings that include depictions of either devotional or prominent secular figures within a carefully created domestic environment. -
Eve and Her Daughters: Eve, Mary, the Virgin, and the Lintel Fragment at Autun
Posted on June 28, 2012 | No CommentsThe lintel fragment of Eve from the Cathedral of St. Lazaire at Autun (Figure 1) has been praised by art historians as one of the greatest monumental figural works of the Romanesque period. -
Looking a medieval gift horse in the mouth. The role of the giving of gift objects in the definition and maintenance of the power networks of Philip the Bold
Posted on June 13, 2012 | No CommentsGuenée dubbed the late fourteenth century le temps des alliances', pointing to the effect on politics and administration in France of visible, recognised networks. These might be based on kinship, marriage and godparenting, where the obligations were well understood, but not necessarily written down -
Symbols of Protection: The Significance of Animal-ornamented Shields in Early Anglo-Saxon England
Posted on June 11, 2012 | No CommentsAnthropomorphic and zoomorphic decoration of shields can be evidenced, at least sporadically, from Roman to Viking times. While textual and pictorial information contributes to this knowledge, detailed archaeological analysis depends primarily on the survival of metal fittings. -
Magic and the Christian Image
Posted on March 11, 2012 | No CommentsMy paper attempts to explore this medieval distinction between the magical and the Christian use of images. -
Tradition and Transformation in the Cult of St. Guthlac in Early Medieval England
Posted on March 6, 2012 | No CommentsDo the variations reflect changes in purpose, patronage, doctrine, liturgy, or intended audience? Are they due to differences in authorship, geographical origin, or regional preferences? Analysis of the variations introduced into the corpus of materials, both narrative and visual, for a given saint over the course of the Middle Ages in England can elucidate the social, cultural, and historical significance of these changes.
