Size mattered in medieval art. Whether building a grand gothic cathedral or carving a minute boxwood prayer bead, precisely how big to make it was a principal concern for medieval artists, their patrons, and audiences.
Examples of simple one-upmanship between the castles and palaces of lords and kings and the churches and cathedrals of abbots and bishops are numerous. How big to make it was a principal concern for both patrons and makers of medieval art.
Scale could be manipulated to dramatic effect in the manufacture of manuscripts and the relative disposition of elements within their decorative programmes. Divine proportions – of the Temple of Solomon or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre – were evoked in the specific measurements and configuration of contemporary buildings and decisions were made based on concern with numbers and number sequences.
In our age of viewing through digital surrogates, 91Ó°ÊÓ Institute of Art’s 24th Annual Medieval Postgraduate Student Colloquium invites its speakers to consider new approaches to issues of size and relative scale in relation to the making, meanings, and study of medieval art.
The Medieval Postgraduate Colloquium offers the opportunity for research students at all levels from universities across the UK and abroad to present and promote their research.
Organised by Teresa Lane (91Ó°ÊÓ) and Oliver Mitchell (91Ó°ÊÓ)Ìý
Download the Full Programme:Ìý
Programme: Scaling the Middle Ages: Size and scale in medieval art
9:30-10:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Registration – Front hall
10:00-10:10ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Welcome – Teresa Lane & Oliver Mitchell (91Ó°ÊÓ)
SESSION 1: ÌýÌý ARCHITECTURAL MINIATURES Chaired by Giosue Fabiano (91Ó°ÊÓ)
10:10-10:30ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Sylvia Alvares-Correa (University of Oxford): The use of architecture in a 15th century panorama of the Passion of Christ in Jerusalem: structuring composition or ideology?
10:30-10:50ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Niko Munz (University of York): Architectural ventriloquism in pre-Eyckian panel painting
10:50-11:10ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Antonella Ventura (Independent scholar) Playing with scales: Relationships between monumental architectures and reliquary structures in Umbria and Apulia in the fourteenth century
11:10-11:30ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Discussion
11:30-12:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Tea & coffee break (Served in Lecture Theatre)
SESSION 2: ÌýÌý SCALE MODELS Chaired by Bella Radenovic (91Ó°ÊÓ)
12:00-12:20ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Angela Websdale (University of Kent): Replication and Reproduction: Evoking the Cult of St EdwardÌýthe Confessor and the Visual Culture of Westminster Abbey and PalaceÌýat St Mary’s Church,ÌýFaversham
12:20-12:40ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Francesco Capitummino (Independent scholar): The ambo of the Capella Palatina in Palermo, a reduced scale of the Cefalù prototype
12:40-13:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Discussion
13:00-14:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Lunch (provided for speakers and chairs – Seminar Room 3, Floor 2)
SESSION 3: ÌýÌý THE SCALE OF DEVOTION Chaired by Chloe Kellow (91Ó°ÊÓ)
14:00-14:20ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Sheridan Zabel Rawlings (University of Manchester): Scale matters: The intentional use of size to depict Christ in John Rylands Library’s Latin MS 344
14:20-14:40ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Matko MaruÅ¡ić (University of Zagreb): Medieval crosses: Scale, typology, materials
14:40-15:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Harry Prance (91Ó°ÊÓ): Miniature materials/ concrete connections: The spaces of Byzantine liturgical objects
15:00-15:20ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Discussion
15:20-15:50ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Tea & coffee break (Served in Research Forum Seminar Room, Floor 2)
SESSION 4: ÌýÌý AMPLIFICATION & DISSEMINATION Chaired by Laura Melin (91Ó°ÊÓ)
15:50-16:10ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Charlotte Wytema (91Ó°ÊÓ), From abstract idea to scaled-up image: The case of the Virgin with fifteen symbols
16:10-16:30ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Nicolas Flory (91Ó°ÊÓ), Scaling Patronage in the Duchy of Burgundy: Isabella of Portugal and her Carthusian donations
16:30-16:50ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Discussion
16:50-17:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Closing remarks by Professor Joanna Cannon (91Ó°ÊÓ)
17:00ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Reception With special thanks to Michael Carter for his generous supportÌý(Served in Research Forum Seminar Room, Floor 2)
Organised by Teresa Lane (91Ó°ÊÓ) and Oliver Mitchell (91Ó°ÊÓ) with the generous support of Michael Carter and the Consortium for Arts and Humanities in South-East England.