Antiquity in Context. Rethinking Art History’s Approaches to Re-use, Continuity, and Reception throughout the Middle Ages.

Workshop at the Department of Art History, University of Vienna / online.

The reception of antiquity during the so-called Middle Ages covers a broad field of studies in architecture and material culture, as it encompasses different epochs from late antiquity to the 15th century. It also incorporates diverse cultural areas, spanning from Western Europe to Byzantium/Anatolia and beyond. Crucially, not only the where and when must be considered, but the question of what was revived – i.e. material (physical objects, spolia etc.) or immaterial sources (historiography, literature, political ideologies etc.).
The aim of this workshop is to examine the existing methodological approaches to this phenomenon, as there is no consensus on it in art historical research. One could even say that significant methodological discourse only just started after having been neglected for most of the discipline’s existence. Although many buildings and objects were subjects of groundbreaking individual case studies, the question on whether a broader methodological framework can be identified or developed to capture the diversity of the material and their context(s) to understand their intended message, remains open.

The question is not whether formal aspects, motives, topics, style and iconography were adopted, transformed or reused in medieval times. The unifying question is why they were deemed useful. We want to discuss communication strategies medieval societies achieved through the reception of the art of antiquity. Bearing in mind that there are different intentions of patrons and various social contexts (religious, courtly, scientific) in which those works were created, we want to identify ways to better understand the reasons for the recourse to antiquity. It is crucial to ask about the medieval audiences, as is to consider the placement and presentation of the art works and architecture. By bringing together researchers working on the reception of antiquity in different media – architecture, (monumental) painting, book illumination, applied Arts / Crafts – from different temporal and geographical contexts, this workshop will focus on the methodological approach(es) that address(es) the phenomenon.

During the workshop, it will be essential to evaluate approaches that have proven to work reliably in the past and furthermore contrast them with those – published and unpublished – that have not. In doing so, we hope to find fruitful ways of examining the phenomenon, while also identifying “biases” and pitfalls that have hindered conclusive research in the past. Together, we want to further strategies in forming solid and useful methods for our field, reflect on difficulties that arise and their possible solutions.

This event will be hybrid and take place in person at the department of Art History, University of Vienna.
Venue:
Department of Art History, University of Vienna
Garnisongasse 13, Campus courtyard 9
1090 Vienna

To participate online please register by 7 November at this email address: tanja.hinterholzunivie.ac.at
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link.

PROGRAMME:

Friday 8 November 2024

10:00: Tanja Hinterholz (Vienna) - Welcome and Introduction
10:15: Ivan Foletti (Brno) - The 7th Century in Iberia. Djvari, Tsromi, Ateni Sioni and the "Soft Power" of the Empire
11:00: Coffee Break
11:15: Michael Viktor Schwarz (Vienna) - The Florentine Baptistery: “Roman”, Romanesque or Both?
12:00: Heike Schlie (Salzburg/Krems) - Practical and Figurative Reusage of the Material Bronze
12:45: Lunch Break
14:15: Markus Ritter (Vienna) - Reuse and Spolia in Premodern-Persian-Islamic Architecture: a Hidden Phenomenon
15:00: Salma Azzam (Vienna) - A Common Ground: Epigraphic Spolia in the Architectural Patronage of a Western Anatolian Principality
15:45: Coffee Break
16:00: Axel Frejman (Uppsala) / Myrto Veikou (Patras) - “With an ancient stone on my belly” – Ottoman Burial Customs in Gediz Valley (Izmir, Turkey)
16:45: Carmen Rob-Santer (Vienna) - Vedere i Classici. Through the Middle Ages. Some Close Readings and Viewings

Saturday 9 November 2024

09:30: Edina Zsupán (Budapest) - Muses at the Cold Danube: Messages Conveyed Trough Elements of the Classical Tradition at the Court of King Matthias Corvinus
10:15: Anna Boreczky (Budapest) - Antique Stories – Medieval Images. Panofsky's Paradox and the Sense of Creative Adaptation
11:00: Coffee Break
11:15: Sophie Dieberger (Vienna) - Where is Antiquity? – The Picture Cycle of a Roman de Troie Between Actualization and Historical Consciousness
12:00-13:00: Closing Panel Discussion

Organized by Salma Azzam, Sophie Dieberger and Tanja Hinterholz