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IMC 2005: Sessions

Session 818: The Circle of Life and Death: Youth, Old Age, and the Ages of Man in Medieval Art and Culture

Tuesday 12 July 2005, 16.30-18.00

Organiser:Sophie Oosterwijk, School of Art History, University of St Andrews
Moderator/Chair:John Cherry, Independent Scholar, London
Paper 818-aThe Wheel of the Ten Ages in Medieval English Wall Painting
(Language: English)
Miriam Gill, Department of History of Art & Film, University of Leicester
Index terms: Art History - General, Art History - Painting, Lay Piety
Paper 818-b'As sone dyeth a yonge man as an olde': Youth and Death in the Medieval Danse Macabre
(Language: English)
Sophie Oosterwijk, School of Art History, University of St Andrews
Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - Middle English, Printing History, Sexuality
Paper 818-cWhere Is the Dignity of Old Age?: The Follies of Old Age in Late Medieval Art
(Language: English)
Christa Grössinger, Independent Scholar, Manchester
Index terms: Art History - Painting, Art History - Sculpture, Printing History, Sexuality
Abstract

This session will address the presentation of the ages and their characteristics in medieval art and culture. The first paper discusses the Ages of Man in medieval art, the model and the dissemination of the imagery. The second paper focusses on childhood and youth and the encounter with Death in the late-medieval danse macabre, using both art and literature. Old age and its follies will be the subject of the third paper, with themes such as the unequal couple and the Fountain of Youth in late-medieval painting, manuscript illumination, prints and misericords.