History of Medieval Art

A special issue of Arts (ISSN 2076-0752).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2025 | Viewed by 4839

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of History and Theory of Art, Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Interests: history of medieval art; Islamic art; Arab and Christian documentary sources

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The Middle Ages are characterized as a complex period from multiple political, social, economic, religious and cultural points of view. This last area, although intimately and inevitably related to the previous ones, is precisely the central theme around which we intend to articulate this Special Issue: “The History of Medieval Art”. In this sense, the complexity to which we refer is reflected in the plurality of its historical–artistic manifestations, framed in periods such as the High Middle Ages, the Full Middle Ages and the Late Middle Ages. Without wishing to conceive of these periods as watertight departments, we are addressing an artistic language characterized by the survival of tradition but, simultaneously, marked by certain novelties and influences that tend to be interrelated and materialized until the beginning of the Modern Age.

Even with the aim of achieving a better understanding of artistic objects and the context in which they were created, the analysis and study of written documentation are essential in the field of Art History, so it is necessary to review the texts that focus on this in particular and value, in this way, the documentary legacy that we preserve of this time.

There are several specialists in the international scene who enrich this scenario with new approaches and focuses; thus, we wish to make room in this Special Issue for researchers who desire to share the results of their latest work with the scientific community. And it is precisely this plurality of medieval art that we intend to reflect here, through various contributions that allow us to approach the Christian, Muslim and Hebrew worlds from the perspective of Art History as a discipline.

Dr. Ignacio González Cavero
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • architecture
  • sculpture
  • painting
  • sumptuary arts
  • cultural transfer
  • written documentation

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 5156 KiB  
Article
Liturgical Spaces and Devotional Spaces: Analysis of the Choirs of Three Catalan Nuns’ Monasteries during the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
by Marta Crispí
Arts 2024, 13(4), 112; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13040112 - 25 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1120
Abstract
Choirs in female monastic and convent communities are spaces whose complexity has been highlighted because of their multipurpose and multifunctional nature. Although they are within the community’s private sphere of prayer of the divine office, it has also been noted that they play [...] Read more.
Choirs in female monastic and convent communities are spaces whose complexity has been highlighted because of their multipurpose and multifunctional nature. Although they are within the community’s private sphere of prayer of the divine office, it has also been noted that they play a liturgical role as the space from which the nuns ‘hear’ and follow the celebrations taking place in the church and even in the choral altars. The devotional–liturgical binomial is joined by other contrasting terms, like esglesia dintra–sgleya de fora, indicating a duality, as follows: the claustration (as an enclosed, internal and private space of the nuns) and the external church accessible to priests and laypeople, as well as private devotion versus community devotion. The Poor Clares of the monastery of Sant Antoni i Santa Clara actually mentioned the choir altar as nostro altar, underscoring the close bonds that joined them to a liturgical table in this private space, as opposed to those of the esglesia defora. The objective of this article is to study the choirs of three female monasteries in Barcelona during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—Sant Pere de les Puel·les (Benedictines), Sant Antoni i Santa Clara and Santa Maria de Pedralbes (both Clarissan)—from a holistic standpoint, including spaces, functions, goods, furnishings and decorations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue History of Medieval Art)
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22 pages, 10267 KiB  
Article
Images as a Hint to the Other World: The Use of Images as Mediators in Medieval and Early Modern Societies
by Roger Ferrer-Ventosa
Arts 2024, 13(3), 93; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13030093 - 22 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1509
Abstract
The Middle Ages and Early Modern periods saw the interpretation of reality through symbols, connecting the natural world to the divine using symbolic thinking and images. The idea of a correspondence between the human and universal macrocosm was prominent in various fields such [...] Read more.
The Middle Ages and Early Modern periods saw the interpretation of reality through symbols, connecting the natural world to the divine using symbolic thinking and images. The idea of a correspondence between the human and universal macrocosm was prominent in various fields such as medicine, philosophy, and religion. Symbolism played a crucial role in approaching divine matters, with symbols serving as a means of direct presence and embodiment. Plato’s influence on Neoplatonist and Hermetic thinkers emphasized the role of dreams and eidola (images) for interpreting the divine. Contemplation of art and nature was an epistemological tool, seeking hidden cosmic harmony and understanding. Christianity embraced worshiping images as representations of the divine, granting believers a way to understand religious concepts. Icons were considered mirrors reflecting the spiritual and divine aspects. The medieval concept of speculum books as mirrors containing all knowledge offered instructional and subjective insights on various subjects. Speculum humanae salvationis illuminated books demonstrated the interplay between the Old and New Testaments, influencing artists like Rogier van der Weyden. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue History of Medieval Art)
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11 pages, 4478 KiB  
Article
The Royal Chapel of Pedro I of Castile in the Christianised Mosque of Seville
by Pablo Gumiel-Campos
Arts 2024, 13(3), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13030084 - 8 May 2024
Viewed by 1052
Abstract
Pedro I of Castile (1350–1369) founded a royal chapel in the Christianised Mosque of Seville. He intended to house there his body, that of Queen María de Padilla, and their son the Infant Alfonso (1359–1362). This mausoleum is well documented both in the [...] Read more.
Pedro I of Castile (1350–1369) founded a royal chapel in the Christianised Mosque of Seville. He intended to house there his body, that of Queen María de Padilla, and their son the Infant Alfonso (1359–1362). This mausoleum is well documented both in the king’s will and in the chronicles of López de Ayala; however, there are no material remains as it was demolished with the construction of the new cathedral in the 15th century. In this article, we seek to produce a state of the art history of the building, a compilation of all the documentary sources that exist for its analysis, and an approach to the problems that hinder its study. We have also tried, unsuccessfully, to put forward a hypothesis about its original location, but we have come up against a dead end. Despite this, we consider it essential to lay all the cards on the table and prevent the mausoleum from falling into oblivion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue History of Medieval Art)
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