The goal of the course is to offer specific knowledge and critical and historiographical tools to investigate the field of applied arts of the Middle Ages. Specific objectives include strengthening the ability to read and contextualize medieval and Byzantine portable and precious art production, and to develop a more mature and independent understanding of the artwork. Seminar-based activities will stimulate the acquisition of more articulate research methodologies and the ability to present issues relevant to art-historical heritage in written and/or oral form to an audience of specialists and non-specialists.
teacher profile teaching materials
The arts referred to, with an obsolete term, as “minor” were an essential component of medieval aesthetics, in Europe as well as in the Byzantine world. This is attested both by written sources that record their reception, meanings and modes of fruition, and by the variety of artifacts that still fill our museums today.
The module aims to examine the production of precious objects in the Medieval Mediterranean through the analysis of a particularly significant case study: the collection of precious objects from the Treasury of Monza Cathedral, now on display in the museum established for this purpose. Assembled during the Lombard period, thanks to the generosity of Queen Theodelinda and her “international” contacts, the Monza Treasury offers an exemplary collection of gold and silverwork, ivory carvings, reliquaries, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, wood carvings and sculptures of many different origins. These works will provide students with the opportunity to examine medieval applied arts production across a broad spectrum, in Europe and Byzantium, starting from a unified context. The course will address technical and craftsmanship aspects, stylistic, iconographic and typological features, as well as the relationship between portable works and monumental art. The course will also investigate the channels of dissemination, reuse and recontextualization (often a true resemantization) in both medieval and modern times of objects whose appreciation over time can effectively be defined as “global” and, in cases such as that of the Monza Treasury, have ultimately acquired exceptional symbolic and identity-defining significance.
Lectures will be mostly class-based but visits to collections and museums may be envisaged; as part of seminar-type activities, students will practice presentation skills on the topics covered in the module.
Programme
THEODELINDA AND THE OTHERS: THE TREASURY OF MONZA CATHEDRAL IN THE MIDDLE AGESThe arts referred to, with an obsolete term, as “minor” were an essential component of medieval aesthetics, in Europe as well as in the Byzantine world. This is attested both by written sources that record their reception, meanings and modes of fruition, and by the variety of artifacts that still fill our museums today.
The module aims to examine the production of precious objects in the Medieval Mediterranean through the analysis of a particularly significant case study: the collection of precious objects from the Treasury of Monza Cathedral, now on display in the museum established for this purpose. Assembled during the Lombard period, thanks to the generosity of Queen Theodelinda and her “international” contacts, the Monza Treasury offers an exemplary collection of gold and silverwork, ivory carvings, reliquaries, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, wood carvings and sculptures of many different origins. These works will provide students with the opportunity to examine medieval applied arts production across a broad spectrum, in Europe and Byzantium, starting from a unified context. The course will address technical and craftsmanship aspects, stylistic, iconographic and typological features, as well as the relationship between portable works and monumental art. The course will also investigate the channels of dissemination, reuse and recontextualization (often a true resemantization) in both medieval and modern times of objects whose appreciation over time can effectively be defined as “global” and, in cases such as that of the Monza Treasury, have ultimately acquired exceptional symbolic and identity-defining significance.
Lectures will be mostly class-based but visits to collections and museums may be envisaged; as part of seminar-type activities, students will practice presentation skills on the topics covered in the module.
Attendance
Optional but strongly encouraged.Type of evaluation
The test consists of an interview and takes place at the end of the course (there are no midterm tests). The interview will be based on the assessment of (1) knowledge and understanding of selected art works, the ability to contextualize them, and to present them appropriately, according to the standards of the discipline; (2) the ability to address general problems, as discussed in class and based on the course bibliography; (3) attending students will also be assessed based on their work within the seminar.