Medieval masterpiece by Cimabue discovered in France
A lost masterpiece by the medieval artist Cimabue has been discovered near Paris, France. It will be going up for auction next month and is expected to sell for up to €6 million.
Early Medieval Art: A Short Guide
A guide to Anglo-Saxon, Byzantine, Carolingian, Chinese, Indian, Viking and Visigothic art from the Early Middle Ages.
Bermejo and the armour of an archangel
What is conveyed by the armour in Bartolomé Bermejo’s Saint Michael Triumphs over the Devil?
The V&A to offer medieval art courses this fall
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum will be launching two art history courses that will allow students to experience it’s world-class medieval collection like never before.
Byzantine painting treatises: the case of Codex Panteleimoniensis 259
This article aims to examine the material of a codex entitled Hermeneia of the Painters.
Unfinished Renaissance mystery unravels in new study
A British Academy-funded investigation interprets the 15th century goldsmith and sculpture Lorenzo Ghiberti’s incomplete ‘Third Commentary’ reflecting on artistic progress.
‘Fake’ Botticelli painting is actually genuine, researchers find
A painting long thought to be a later imitation of Sandro Botticelli’s famous Madonna of the Pomegranate has been revealed to be a rare example by the artist’s own workshop.
A Beast of a Project: Curating an Exhibition on Bestiaries at the Getty
This presentation will look at the behind-the-scenes planning for the Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World exhibition, which will open at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles on May 14, 2019
Engaging with Sienese Painting through time
This lecture takes three approaches to the theme of time and Sienese painting of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Discovering what medieval ink was made from
Figuring out the chemical reactions of the components that made writing on paper possible and last for hundreds of years was the aim of the Meridies Medieval History research group.
Relics and Reliquaries: A Matter of Life and Death
A not unusual modern response to reliquaries is disgust–after all they often contain bones. To understand their presence, even their glorification, it must be admitted that the bones are not the ordinary subject of horror, rather as the bones of the blessed
$8.2 million gift for the study of medieval art at the University of Michigan
With this gift, the University of Michigan becomes one of only two schools in the United States with an endowed professorship in medieval art.
900 years ago she was artist – we know this because she has bits of blue stone in her teeth
A team of researchers examining the remains of a woman buried around the year 1100 AD have – to their surprise – discovered dozens of tiny bits of blue stone in her teeth. They soon realized that she was likely a painter of illuminated medieval manuscripts.
The Medieval Sketches of Villard de Honnecourt
Ten of our favourite pages from Villard de Honnecourt’s 13th century sketchbook.
Art and Devotional Practices in the Byzantine Village: The Long View
In this talk, Gerstel will look at devotional art in several Greek villages and will also discuss how engaging with art in the village may provide opportunities for medievalists to move beyond the strict chronological confines of our field to take a more activist stance in approaching buildings and their communities.
Art as the Marker of a Common Cultural Heritage in East Asia: The Case of Goryeo Buddhist Painting in Japan
The case study I took into consideration is the Korean Goryeo Buddhist Paintings, a painting tradition which is almost disappeared by its homeland, but which conserves the majority of its last surviving examples in Japanese temples and museums.
Discovery of Earliest Known Image of Pilgrims on the Road to Canterbury
Researchers have made a remarkable discovery of a stained glass panel picturing pilgrims travelling by horse and on foot to visit the tomb of archbishop Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. The newly discovered stained glass panel dates to the mid 1180s, less than twenty years after Becket’s death.
The features of Saint Louis
Extensive study into the figure of Louis IX lends to many-sided, even contradictory conclusions on his role. In the past, one has paid an almost maniacal attention to the physical appearance of the king, examining some images for a reflection, or indeed a portrait, of Saint Louis.
Mona Lisa suffered from hypothyroidism, doctor says
One physician has taken a closer look at the portrait, and believes it reveals that its subject, Lisa Gherardini, was suffering from thyroid issues.
The Tour Guide in the Middle Ages: Guide Culture and the Mediation of Public Art
This study investigates the medieval “tour guide” or, perhaps better, it investigates guide culture. Toward this end, I ask such questions as was there a “tour guide” in the Middle Ages, that is, is there evidence for an artistic component within medieval guide culture?
Uncovering the mysteries of England’s Bayeux Tapestry and its connections to Charlemagne
A team of academics, led by the University of Bristol, are hoping to raise awareness of a unique, but little-known, medieval fresco which depicts fighting knights on the wall of a village church in Shropshire.
Voyagers in the Vault of Heaven: The Phenomenon of Ships in the Sky in Medieval Ireland and Beyond
This paper explores the phenomenon of ships voyaging in the sky. Such fantastical sightings are considered primarily in an early medieval Irish context, but evidence from places as widely separated in time and place as thirteenth-century England and eighteenth-century Canada is also addressed.
The Architectural Setting of English Romanesque Sculpture
Malcolm Thurlby considers English Romanesque sculpture in the context of its architectural matrix, focusing on specific carved elements such as portals, tympana, capitals, and figural reliefs.
How forgetting about medieval treasures saved them
One of Scandinavia’s finest collections of church art from the Middle Ages lay hidden and forgotten in Norwegian churches for centuries. Indeed, this long forgetting is precisely what preserved the unique church art.
History from the Bottom Up
Betsy Dominguez shares her story of uncovering profane artwork in a sacred space, and explores its meaning, raising questions about modern censorship and the ever-growing divide between “high” and “low” concepts.