NE Area Study Day. Thursday 29th September 2016.
St. Bede’s Pastoral Centre (next to the Bar Convent, York)
Roger Rosewell
Seeing and Understanding Medieval Art and Imagery
This is a unique study day consisting of three extensively illustrated one-hour
lectures with opportunities for questions and discussion.
It will begin by looking at two of the most important monumental arts of the Middle
Ages – stained glass windows and wall paintings – before exploring the purpose of
such imagery within the church and how it was seen and understood by the
audiences for whom it was intended.
The aim of the study day is not just to describe medieval art but to reveal its
symbolism, meaning and function.
The first part of the day will consist of a one-hour lecture about the history, craft,
style, and fate of medieval stained glass windows. Examples from York Minster and
several other city churches will be among those discussed.
The second lecture will focus on medieval church wall paintings, especially the
iconography of the subjects that were shown. Examples will include depictions of
Biblical and miraculous stories, such as the Legends of St Katherine and St George,
and ‘shock imagery’ such as the Last Judgement, the Seven Deadly Sins and
Warnings against blasphemy and gossiping in church.
The third lecture will use examples from the first two lectures [and more] to discuss
the purposes of medieval imagery, the controversies about, and the justifications for,
imagery in the medieval Christian church and how medieval people received and
responded to such art and imagery.
--------------------------------------------Roger Rosewell is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the author of two
recently published books about medieval wall paintings. He is also the Features
Editor of Vidimus, the online magazine about medieval stained glass published by
the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi Great Britain Committee, part of an international
organisation of scholars and conservators formed in 1952