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IMC 2017: Sessions

Session 1138: Rome Revisited: New Perspectives on Antiquity and 'Romanesque' Art

Wednesday 5 July 2017, 11.15-12.45

Organisers:Deborah Kahn, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Boston University, Massachusetts
Elizabeth Pugliano, College of Arts & Media, University of Colorado, Denver
Moderator/Chair:Elizabeth Pugliano, College of Arts & Media, University of Colorado, Denver
Paper 1138-aFrom Rome to the Romanesque: The Effect of the Late Antique 'Decline' of Style on the Early Medieval Form
(Language: English)
Bailey Benson, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Boston University, Massachusetts
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Art History - General, Art History - Sculpture, Social History
Paper 1138-bRoman Lions and Romanesque Churches: The Role of Repurposed Leonine Imagery in the Execution of Medieval Justice
(Language: English)
Steve Burges, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Boston University, Massachusetts
Index terms: Archaeology - General, Art History - Sculpture, Law, Social History
Paper 1138-cRoman(esque) Archways: Monumental Church Portals and Their Classical Origins
(Language: English)
Alexandria Yen, Department of History of Art & Architecture, Boston University, Massachusetts
Index terms: Archaeology - Sites, Architecture - Religious, Art History - General
Abstract

This session highlights a new generation of scholarship on medieval interactions with antiquity. Departing from earlier studies interrogating emulations of the classical past, these papers explore from materialist and iconographic perspectives the roles of antique objects and images in the social and institutional reforms of the Romanesque era. Beyond the initial question of how remnants of antiquity were transformed to assert reformist agendas, consideration extends to the cognitive expectations and potential of medieval viewers. Contextualized within environments that acknowledged their history, appropriated forms are approached as demonstrations of careful curation aimed to inspire, even compel, viewers to 'look beyond the (spoliated element), or image, immediately observed' (Brilliant, 2011). Bringing together specialists of Roman and medieval art, this session represents an ongoing cross-disciplinary discourse at Boston University.