DU2366 Images, Media and Migrations. The Visual Cultures of the Medieval Worlds

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
prof. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur es Lettres, Docent in Church History (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. Ivan Foletti, MA, Docteur es Lettres, Docent in Church History
Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Art History – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites
No pre-requisites are required.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
The main objective of this course is to introduce the students to the very notion of 'visual culture' in the Middle Ages. Starting with a historiographical reflection on the notion of 'visual culture', the course will attempt to present the main issues and methodological tools in the study of medieval 'visual culture'.
The principal axis of the reflection will revolve around specific media used in the Middle Ages, trying to understand the interaction between space, rituals, and visual culture. The overarching objective of the course is thus to show patterns and semantic categories anchored to the premodern visual culture but relevant also for today.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, a student will be able to:
- understand the notion of 'visual culture' into the context of the premodern Mediterranean and global medieval art;
- analyze current research directions in visual studies with a critical gaze and a clear consciousness of historiography;
- know the main media used in the medieval world and their impact on conception, perception, and reception of visual cultures;
- understand the transcultural dimensions of the medieval period, visible into monuments and objects;
- avoid the colonial gaze on past cultures.
Syllabus
  • Introduction: from Riegl to Belting, 'visual cultures' of the Middle Ages;
  • From sculptures to bidimensional images: a mediatic revolution;
  • Devotional images and the birth of the Middle Ages;
  • Shining Images: the invention of wall mosaics, light, and imagination;
  • Murals and frescoes: from Rome to Assisi, and to France. The genesis of narration;
  • Experiencing sacred space: liturgical barriers, divisions, and the question of the visibility;
  • A tactile devotion: objects, reliquaries, and the question of seeing through the other senses;
  • Stained glass windows and the theory of a visible divine presence.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • FOLETTI, Ivan, Hans BELTING and Martin LEŠÁK. Movement, Images and Iconic Presence in the Medieval World. In Convivium VI, 1. Brno: Brepols, 2019, 167 pp. info
  • FOLETTI, Ivan, Adrien PALLADINO, Katarína KRAVČÍKOVÁ and Sabina ROSENBERGOVÁ. Migrating Art Historians on the Sacred Ways. Řím: Viella, 2018, 468 pp. Convivia 2. ISBN 978-88-331-3105-4. URL info
  • KESSLER, Herbert L., Francesco DELL’ACQUA, Anthony CUTLER, Avinoam SHALEM and Gerhard WOLF. The Salerno Ivories. Objects, Histories, Contexts. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 2015, 367 pp. ISBN 978-3-7861-2730-7. info
  • FOLETTI, Ivan and Alžběta FILIPOVÁ. The Face of the Dead and the Early Christian World. 1. vyd. Roma: Viella, 2013, 193 pp. ISBN 978-88-8334-994-2. info
  • BELTING, Hans. An anthropology of images : picture, medium, body. Translated by Thomas Dunlap. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011, v, 207. ISBN 9780691160962. info
  • KESSLER, Herbert L. Gregory the Great and Image Theory in Northern Europe in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries. In Conrad Rudolph. A Companion to Medieval Art: Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006, p. 151-171. ISBN 978-1-4051-0286-5. info
  • KESSLER, Herbert L. Seeing medieval art. Ontario: Broadview Press, 2004, 256 s. ISBN 1551115352. info
  • KESSLER, Herbert L. Old St. Peter's and church decoration in medieval Italy. 1a ed. Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull'alto medioevo, 2002, xiii, 237. ISBN 8879882465. info
  • BELTING, Hans. Likeness and presence : a history of the image before the era of art. Translated by E. F. N. Jephcott. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994, xxiv, 651. ISBN 0226042154. info
  • KESSLER, Herbert L. Studies in pictorial narrative. London: Pindar, 1994, ii, 582. ISBN 0907132774. info
  • BELTING, Hans. Das Bild und sein Publikum im Mittelalter : Form und Funktion früher Bildtafeln der Passion. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1981, 316 s. ISBN 3786113076. info
    not specified
  • FOLETTI, Ivan and Katharina MEINECKE. Jupiter, Kristus, Chalífa. Obrazy mocných a zrození středověku (IV.–VIII. století) (Jupiter, Christ, Khalifa. Images of the Powerfuls and the Birth of the Middle Ages (IV.–VIII. Century)). 1st ed. Brno: Masarykova univerzita; Books & Pipes, 2019, 109 pp. Parva Convivia, sv. č. 5. ISBN 978-80-210-9425-3. info
Teaching methods
Interactive lectures with the use of visual inputs
Assessment methods
Oral examination on a selected topic discussed with the teacher. Abstract and full bibliography are requested at latest 2 weeks before the examination.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: every other week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2023/DU2366