IMC 2010: Sessions

Paper -a:
Early Cistercian hostility towards images in their monasteries is well known, and the proliferation of statues, wall paintings, and retables in the Order's abbeys in the later Middle Ages is often regarded as a softening of the Cistercian ideal. There has, however, been little analysis of the type of use of images in Cistercian abbeys in the late Middle Ages. This paper will take a small step towards addressing this gap in scholarship and will discuss the images present in Cistercian monasteries in northern England in the century or so before the Dissolution. In so doing, it will seek to establish if there was anything distinctive about the Cistercians' use of images, and what this can tell us about the Order's devotions in this period.

Papers -b & -c:
These two presentations will deal with the astronomical clock at Chiaravalle Milanese. This clock was analysed by Leonardo da Vinci, and will be presented here together with the complex sundials in the same abbey which have never before been studied. Simple sundials were common. Those at Chiaravalle, however, show high technical skill and a deep interest in aspects of timekeeping well beyond the simplest time reckoning for the layman. Presentation of the clock will include a 3D reconstruction, showing dials, moon, sun, and other elements.