Global Humanities

The course will provide students with a multifaceted approach to the role of images in medieval and Byzantine art, by paying a special attention to the so-called “Iconoclasm”, i.e. to the long period – between the late 6th and the 9th centuries – during which the debate about the meanings and use of images and icons together with their veneration “hit the headlines” and soon became the main issue on the religious and political agenda. How this large-scale ideological struggle could have had an influence or even exerted a “pressure” on the artistic production of Early Medieval Europe and the Byzantine world, shall be a basic subject to deal with during classes. By adopting a definite iconological approach, a focus will be provided on the following subjects: a. Architecture b. Sculpture and plastic c. Paintings, mosaic d. Inscriptions, coins e. Illuminated manuscripts f. Small artworks, handcrafts, objects for use Through this lens, Western Medieval and Byzantine art, archaeology, and culture will be explored, with an emphasis on the main capital cities, the major centres of pilgrimage, the trading networks. Cross-cultural interactions between the Byzantine world and its Eurasian neighbours (Bulgaria, Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Hungary and the Northern Balkans; the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphate, the medieval Turks and the Mongols) will be considered as well. This would imply to investigate the culture and material evidence of the millennium of Eurasian civilisation from Late Antiquity and the Early Medieval/Byzantine period up to the turning point of the 15th century with and its worldwide aftereffects.

No preparatory examination or pre-requisite knowledge required.

1. Robin Cormack, Byzantine Art (Second edition), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. – viii + 253 pages + illustrations – ISBN: 978-0-19-877879-0 (Oxford History of Art). 2. Leslie Brubaker, Inventing Byzantine Iconoclasm, London: Bristol Classic Press, 2012. - xvi + 134 pages + illustrations- ISBN: 978-1-85399-750-1 (Studies in Early Medieval history).

The course will based upon lectures with the aid of power-point presentations and other illustrative material. In-depth seminars and the drafting of short written texts will enable students to directly deal with case studies of architectural contexts and individual art objects. This is consistent with the educational objectives, aiming at provide students with the ability to apply their relevant skills.

Class attendance is highly recommended.

The examination will be oral and is based on assigned readings in textbooks and in lecture notes. The purpose of the interview is to assess the student’s mastery of the subjects studied and their methodological implications in terms of reconstructing historical contexts in the field of figurative art. An iconographic and stylistic analysis test is part of the examination (two/three works of art, presented by means of photographs and/or colour plates), aimed at assessing the ability to analyse and contextualise works of art from the period. The assessment will consider the following aspects: recognition of images; chronological and geographical contextualisation; ability to analyse iconography, iconology, stylistics; knowledge of the content of the texts indicated in the bibliography; use of the appropriate specific language. A final mark of 18 out of 30 is required to pass the exam. To pass the exam with full marks - 30 out of 30 cum laude - students must demonstrate a high level of mastery of all the learning outcomes and a full understanding of the topics covered in class. They must be able to synthesise the data and information they have acquired in a logical and coherent way. The course of Medieval and Byzantine Art does not imply any sort of midterm test.

1. Auzépy, Marie-France, Les Isauriens et l’espace sacré. L’église et les reliques, in Kaplan, Michel (sous la direction de), Le sacré et son inscription dans l’espace à Byzance et en Occident. Études comparées, Centre de Recherches d’Histoire et de Civilisation Byzantines, Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne (Byzantina Sorbonensia, 18), pp. 13-24. 2. Auzépy, Marie-France, L’hagiographie et l’iconoclasme byzantin. Le cas de la Vie d’Étienne le Jeune, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999 (Birmingham Byzantine and Ottoman monographs, 5). 3. Barber, Charles, Figure and Likeness. On the limits of representation in Byzantine iconoclasm, Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press., 2002. 4. Barber, Charles, Theotokos and “Logos”. The interpretation and reinterpretation of the sanctuary programme of the Koimesis Church, Nicaea, in Vassilaki, Maria (ed.), Images of the Mother of God. Perceptions of the Theotokos in Byzantium, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, pp. 51-59. 5. Brubaker, Leslie & Haldon, John, Byzantium in the iconoclast era c. 680-850. A history, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011. 6. Brubaker, Leslie, Ernst Kitzinger and the invention of iconoclasm, in Felicity Harley-McGowan, F. & H., Ernst Kitzinger and the making of medieval art history, London: Warburg Institute (Warburg Institute colloquia, 30), pp. 143-152. 7. Campagnolo, Matteo, Magdalino, Paul, Martiniani-Reber, Marielle, Rey, André-Louis (sous la direction de), L’aniconisme dans l’art religieux byzantin. Actes du colloque de Genève (1-3 octobre 2009), Genève: La Pomme d’or, 2014. 8. Humphreys, M.T.G., Law, power, and imperial ideology in the Iconoclast era c.680-850, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press. 2015. 9. Noble, Thomas F.X., Images, iconoclasm, and the Carolingians, Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. 10. Price, Richard, Icons before and during Iconoclasm: https://www.academia.edu/20430402/Icons_before_and_during_Iconoclasm?auto=download&campaign=weekly_digest

The course will based upon lectures with the aid of power-point presentations and other illustrative material. In-depth seminars and the drafting of short written texts will enable students to directly deal with case studies of architectural contexts and individual art objects. This is consistent with the educational objectives, aiming at provide students with the ability to apply their relevant skills.