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IMC 2018: Sessions

Session 708: La Mémoire des Images: Beasts and Animals Changing through Contexts in the Middle Ages

Tuesday 3 July 2018, 14.15-15.45

Sponsor:Departamento de Historia Medieval, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Organiser:Marisa Bueno, Departamento de Historia Medieval, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Moderator/Chair:Gonzalo J. Escudero Manzano, Departamento de Historia Medieval, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Paper 708-aImages of Mouth of Hell in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius 11
(Language: English)
Gesner Las Casas Brito Filho, School of Fine Art, History of Art & Cultural Studies, University of Leeds
Index terms: Art History - General, Art History - Painting, Biblical Studies, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 708-bThe Origin of the Unicorn as Steed in Medieval Culture
(Language: English)
Adriana Gallardo Luque, Departamento de Historia Medieval, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Index terms: Art History - General, Art History - Painting, Language and Literature - Comparative, Manuscripts and Palaeography
Paper 708-cThe Rhetoric of Images: Memory and Ornamentation in Oxford, St John's College, MS 61
(Language: English)
Muriel Araujo Lima, Departamento de História, Universidade de São Paulo
Index terms: Art History - General, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Rhetoric
Abstract

The relationship between medieval texts, memory and the images is the centre of this session. We'll explore both the text's production and the evolving symbolic meanings of the images in different historical contexts. The papers contained in this proposal go beyond the classical historiography that has exclusively considered the text/image relationship according to the couple of source/illustration. The images from manuscripts contribute to various levels of meanings in relation to the text: similarity, divergence, mimesis, equivalence and alterity. According to the layout topography the images have different hierarchies and meanings.

In order to explore the role of images as mnemonic institutions in the construction of symbolic archetypes the analysis will follow Didi-Huberman's extensive approach into the work of foundational art historian Aby Warburg, drawing art history from anthropology, psychoanalysis, and philosophy in order to understand the 'life' of images.

As working topics to address this central issue in the practice of medieval art the session will explore:
1. The prototype of lust. From the roman goddess Tellus to Babylonia, the woman on the beast, as enemy of Christianity.
2. The unicorn symbolism. The perfect mount in the Late Middle Ages.
3. The meanings and functions of mouth of hell in the visual narrative of fall of Lucifer.