Illuminating Medieval Art

Comprehensive and enjoyable online course from HistFest on Medieval art from the 6th to the 14th century.

Over four weeks Janina Ramirez led us though this period via recorded lectures and live Q&A sessions. I think the course had run before with the same lectures but the format worked well and the Q&A sessions were lively and interactive. Ramirez was very approachable and welcomed new ideas.  She encouraged those with questions to turn on their video screens leading to some fascinating conversations.

She started with the Dark Ages, which she doesn’t want to be called that, looking at how Christian art started to leak into England both from the Roman and Celtic traditions. She talked about the imagery of intertwined animals and the complex riddles used both in art and literature leading up to the Normal Conquest. Post Conquest we looked at the rise of the artist from anonymous craftsman to a period we see more individualism in society and art.

Despite this being the period I studied at university I was introduced to lots of new objects and ideas. In my defense it was a long time ago! I’d not met the Ruthwell Cross before and was fascinated by the iconography of the two different sides. Moving to the later period I loved this alms purse of the Polish queen, or should I say king, Jadwiga, which shows the romance of Tristan and Iseult.

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