Skip to main content

IMC 2009: Sessions

Session 1502: Patronage and Benefaction in Medieval England: Saints, Statues, and Seals

Thursday 16 July 2009, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:University of Leicester
Organiser:Ellie Pridgeon, Department of the History of Art & Film, University of Leicester / Precise Media, London
Moderator/Chair:Louise Nelstrop, Regent's Park College, University of Oxford
Paper 1502-aWealthy and Influential Women: The Personal Seals of Wives and Daughters of London Aldermen, c.1190-1300
(Language: English)
John McEwan, American University of Richmond
Index terms: Art History - General, Women's Studies
Paper 1502-bBishop Fox: Imagery, Craftsmen, and Patronage at Medieval Winchester
(Language: English)
Angela Smith, Department of Art History, University of Leicester
Index terms: Architecture - Religious, Art History - General
Paper 1502-cMedieval Wall Paintings of St Christopher: Patronage and Funding
(Language: English)
Ellie Pridgeon, Department of the History of Art & Film, University of Leicester / Precise Media, London
Index terms: Art History - General, Hagiography
Abstract

This session will assess the diverse ways in which men and women patronised different types of artwork in assorted environments during the medieval period. The first paper will focus on seals belonging to women in the city of London, and demonstrate how they reveal a high status of female identity in the 13th century. The second paper will assess the works commissioned by Bishop Fox at Winchester Cathedral, and explain the reasons behind the stylistic similarities with royal sculptural schemes. The third paper will consider the types of patronage associated with St Christopher murals in rural parish churches, and prove that it was typically the more 'ordinary' parishioners (rather than the gentry or nobility) who were responsible for funding such images.