Early Medieval Art

Oldest known portrait of St Paul revealed by Vatican archaeologists

Pope Says Tests ‘Seem to Conclude’ Bones Are the Apostle Paul’s

First, let’s imagine that a university art museum has among its treasures a small painted chamber from a site that it excavated many years ago.  This small painted chamber is no ordinary painted chamber of antiquity (if there is such a thing), but one which features in every survey of western art.

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the state of this chamber’s preservation is deplorable.  In fact, the chamber is preserved in a number of panels of plaster on which no paint remains (at least, so it is reported, for no outside scholar has been permitted to view them for decades).

Now, let’s say that the museum, as it plans for the re-installation of its ancient galleries, has a plan for their conservation.  They will simply repaint the original plaster to recreate the original program.  Yes, repaint.

Am I the only art historian who would finds this intellectually dishonest?

Now, I specialize in wall painting, and the church that figures most centrally in my research, that of the Monastery of Saint John in Muestair, Switzerland, has suffered from repaintings and retouchings.  Plaster, similarly removed, but merely retouched,  languishes in the off-site storage  of the Landesmuseum in Zurich.  But at least it is preserved.   And conservators painstakingly reverse the retouchings that paintings still on the wall were subjected to in the mid-twentieth century.  But full repaintings were reversed soon after they were made, their offense quickly understood.

I appreciate the usefulness of a recreation.  The Museo Archeologico dell’Alto Adige in Bolzano/Bozen usefully recreates the interior of the Chapel of Saint Benedict in Malles/Mals.  You can see a small photo of it here.

But such recreations should not come at the cost of the original, such as this museum has planned.  The panels of plaster, although no longer the bearers of art, should still be preserved as artifacts.  Isn’t it possible that one day, elements of the wall painting, invisible to the naked or even microscopic eye, could one day be discovered on or within the original plaster?  Why can’t the museum just use new plaster, which would simulate much more authentically the original visual effect?  Does this imminent action by the museum warrant coordinated scholarly outrage?

At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard

A Turnaround Specialist Takes on Italy’s Museums

Although I rather enjoy the challenge of finding obscure objects in Italy’s poorly-presented museums, it would be better for the cultral patrimony itself, if the visitor were more of a priority; so, I am inclined to look forward to the changes promised by Mario Resca.

David L. Balch, Roman Domestic Art & Early House Churches (Wissemschaftlich Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament) (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2008).

Allan Doig, Liturgy and Architecture (Liturgy, Worship & Society Series) (Ashgate, 2008).

Annemarie Stauffer, Antike Musterblätter (Spatantike – Fruhes Christentum – Byzanz) (Reichert, 2008).

Rosa Maria Bonacasa Carra & Emma Vital, La Cristianizzazione in Italia tra tardoantico ed altomedioevo.  Atti del IX Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Cristiana, Agrigento 20-25 novembre 2004 (Saladino, 2007).

Georg Eggenstein et al., Eine Welt in Bewegung unterwegs zu Zentren des frühen Mittelalters: Katalog zur Ausstellung im Historischen Museum im Marstall Paderborn Schloss … Würzburg vom 12. August bis 16. November 2008 (Deutscher Kunstverlag, 2008).

William Lyster, The Cave Church of Paul the Hermit: At the Monastery of St. Paul in Egypt (Yale, 2008).

Noga-Banai Galit, The Trophies of the Martyrs: An Art Historical Study of Early Christian Silver Reliquaries (Oxford Studies in Byzantium)(Oxford, 2008).

Rodo Santoro, Bizantini: L’eridita culturale in Sicilia (Kalos, 2008).

Matthias Exner, Das Guntbald-Evangeliar: Ein ottonischer Bilderzyklus und sein Zeugniswert für die Rezeptionsgeschichte des Lorscher Evangeliars (Schnell & Steiner, 2008).

Lamia Hadda, Tunisia medievale: Architettura e decorazione islamica (IX-XVI secolo) (Liguori, 2008).

Myla Perraymond, Paradigmi di esegesi figurale nell’arte paleocristiana (Aracne, 2007).

Cecilia Proverbio, La Figura dell’Angelo nella civilta paleocristiana (Tau, 2007).

Anke Reiss, Rezeption fruehchristlicher Kunst im 19. und 20.Jahrhundert: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der christlichen Archaeologie und zum Historismus (J.H. Roell, 2008).

The New York Times has a nice review of the new installation of medieval works at the Met, along with a slideshow.

As you may have noticed, I have taken a lengthy hiatus from posting.  Since August I have been working at a local art museum and have been very busy, without the time to update this site.  I intend to return to the classroom next fall, but in the meantime, I will resume posting to this website on a weekly basis, starting this weekend.  I apologize for my prolonged and unexplained absence.