IMC 2011: Sessions
Session 713: Something for Nothing: Pictorial and Material Austerity in the Visual Arts of the Middle Ages, III - Saints and Ideals of Austerity
Tuesday 12 July 2011, 14.15-15.45
| Sponsor: | Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
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| Organiser: | Kathryn Gerry, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore |
| Moderator/Chair: | Jessica N. Richardson, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC |
| Paper 713-a | Alexis, Christ, and Pictorial Realization of the Saintly Ideal in the St Albans Psalter (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - Painting, Hagiography, Manuscripts and Palaeography |
| Paper 713-b | Devotional Art, Visionary Experience, and Ascetic Practice in the St. Katherinental Convent at Diessenhofen (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - General, Monasticism, Religious Life, Women's Studies |
| Paper 713-c | Toning Down the Saint: New Materials and Strategies in the Visualization of Sanctity in 15th-Century Italy (Language: English) Index terms: Art History - Sculpture, Hagiography, Religious Life |
| Abstract | The use of lavish materials to manifest invisible spiritual truths has long been a prominent theme in discussions of medieval art, but medieval artists and patrons also turned to visual austerity and representations of poverty in order to convey their spiritual ideals, and an emphasis on forsaking worldly goods for the greater riches of salvation played a significant role in defining the subject matter and shaping the pictorial strategies of the visual arts. Objects, paintings and other visual arts were skillfully used to promote ideals of poverty, to mediate tensions between earthly and spiritual wealth, or to manipulate the perception of wealth. The papers in this session will offer new perspectives on how artists, patrons, and viewers understood and used austerity as a tool in visual communication. |