IMC 2014: Sessions

Paper -a:
In De Consecratione, written in the 1140s, Suger of Saint-Denis describes the occasion in which the abbey church of Saint-Denis was consecrated after being renovated. This renovation was later identified as the origin of Gothic architecture, and several art historians - such as Erwin Panofsky, Jean-Claude Bonne, and Conrad Rudolph - have analyzed De Consecratione from an artistic, architectural, and aesthetic viewpoint.

Nevertheless, although several scholars (Rita Copeland, Susan Reynolds, and others) have been asserting the importance of rhetoric in the 12th century, the rhetorical character of De Consecratione has not been thoroughly examined by scholars. By investigating the genres (genera causarum) in which the text was written, the parts of discourse (partes orationis), and the rhetorical techniques (artes rhetoricae) applied to the text, we will argue that some passages of the text that have traditionally been taken at face value or as Suger's empirical experience and opinion may be thought of as non-literal-minded and discursive stances.

Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the scholarship on Suger's writings by recognizing and scrutinizing the rhetorical features of De Consecratione.

Paper -b:
Critics have long accepted that medieval churches often anagogically portray the New Jerusalem. However, the discussion of 'Number' tends to center almost exclusively on number as proportion, geometry, or iconography. This paper examines number used symbolically in medieval churches, both as conceptual organizing schema based on traditional whole/part analysis and Gestalt principles, and the ability to be read as narrative. Number symmetry, hierarchical ordering, and the grouping, placement of architectonic and decorative elements are explored with a case study of San Miniato, Florence, which reveals a precise multi-dimensional layered narrative from Genesis to Revelation and key elements of Christian theology.

Paper -c:
Images of church founders with architectural models are a common and well-researched motif in medieval art. This paper, however, examines a departure from this tradition - the representation of donor figures with objects alluding to legal customs regarding property and its conveyance, namely branches and texts. A group of these appear in 12th-century sculpture on the Upper Rhine, including on the tomb slab of Burkhard von Nellenburg in Schaffhausen and in sculptures at the abbeys of Hohenbourg and Andlau. This paper assesses the legal and social connotations of representing such objects, exploring how they situated the donors within their respective environments and addressed their audiences.