From the chalices that glisten behind glass museum cases to the ritual staging of powerful relics, from the architectural fragments of once towering cathedrals to fresco schemes designed to envelope the senses of the viewer, the display and location of medieval art and architecture matter. Though often meticulously designed and executed for specific temporal and physical loci, objects frequently moved – whether purposefully, forcefully or even only imaginatively – into new contexts and topographies. Natural disasters, wars and religious conflicts – the 1202 Syria earthquake, the 1204 Sack of Constantinople, St Lucia’s Flood in 1297, or the 1492 expulsion of Jews from Spain, amongst many others – contributed to the displacement of people, objects and buildings.
Surviving sources – whether written or visual – affirm that the reciprocal relationships between objects and their sites were integral to medieval viewers’ experience of art and architecture. At a time when access to artworks and cultural sites has been largely disrupted by the current pandemic, addressing the question of how medieval art was uprooted and its display reconfigured is especially pertinent. The Courtauld’s 26thAnnual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquiumhas invitedspeakers from various academic fields (including, but not limited to, art history, archaeology, material culture and conservation studies) to consider various forms of displacement and their visual and experiential implications for medieval art and architecture.
The Courtauld’s26th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium
‘Display and Displacement in Medieval Art and Architecture’
Day 1 – Thursday 18thFebruary, 11:00 –15:45
11:00 Welcome
11:10Session 1:Artworks on ٳMove – Chaired by Susannah Kingwill (The Courtauld)
AnnaHenningsson(Technical University of Berlin)–Displaced Authenticity: Medieval Wall Paintings in Transformation
AnjaKatharinaFrisch(Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) –English Medieval Alabaster Sculpture in Context: Modes of Reframing and Use across Continental Europe
11:50Discussion
12:10Break
12.25Session 2:Displaying Communities – Chaired by Rachel Alban (The Courtauld)
ElenaLavrentyeva(Institute of Theory and History of Architecture and Urban Planning,Moscow) –“Talking” sculptural decoration of the Church of Resurrection in Jerusalem as the identification of the Christian communities guarding the Holy Sepulchre in the 12thcentury
YeidyRosa(Durham University)–Hidden and Revealed: Jewish-Muslim-Christian Relations, Women’s Power and Family Feuds Through a Recently Uncovered Mural of the Lamentation in the Cathedral ofAlbarracín,Teruel, Aragon, Spain, XV Century
13:05Discussion
13:25Lunch
14:15Session 3:Accessing Place: Imagination and Proximity – Chaired by Anna Chiara Giusa (The Courtauld)
Michele Guida Conte(ԾàdegliStudidiBergamo) –When Sacred Objects Shape Architecture: Santa Corona in Vicenza
Florian Abe(BibliothecaHertziana) –Visualising Measurements – The Problem of ‘Original’ and (Proto)Type in Late Medieval Stations of the Cross
Kevin Vogelaar(Independent Researcher) –Hearts Hard as Flint: Frankish Reception of Chinese Pilgrims and Relic Accessibility in the Late 13thCentury
15:15Discussion
15:45 Endof Day 1
Day 2 – Friday 19thFebruary, 11:00 –16:00
11:00Welcome
11:05Session 4:Shifting Contexts: Display and Displacement – Chaired by Jessica Gasson (The Courtauld)
JuliaFaiers(University of St Andrews) –The displacement and re-presentations of ٳCombefaEntombment sculptures
Jamie Haskell(The Courtauld)–Set instone? Shifts in the display of sculpture and wall paintings in the cloister of Pamplona Cathedral
IñigoSaltoԳٲí(TechnischeUniversitätBerlin)–The power of temporary exhibitions – The Bayeux Tapestry at the Louvre (1803/1944)
12:05Discussion
12:35Break
12:50Session 5:Destroying and Salvaging – Chaired by Bella Radenović (The Courtauld)
ChiaraCapulli(University of Cambridge) –SalvagingٳBeataUmiltà:Vallombrosanvisual identity after the 1529Guastoof Florence
Julian Wood(OxfordUniversity) –‘Remnants of Consubstantiality? Shattered images and Immanence in Byzantine Iconoclasm’
13:30Discussion
13:50Lunch
14:50Session 6:Enshrining the Past – Chaired by Jasmine Clark (The Courtauld)
Samuel Dawson(The Courtauld)–ReframingAmbrogioLorenzetti’sBadiaaRofenoaltarpiece as a work ofOlivetanpatronage
Claire Jensen(University of Toronto) –The Madonna of the Healed: [Re]framing an Annunciation Panel Painting in Aversa
15:30Discussion
15:50Closing Remarksby DrTom Nickson(The Courtauld)
16:00 End of Day 2