On the Wall: Mosaics and Frescoes

Catalog description

This seminar examines the economy, technology, and aesthetics of monumental paintings and mosaics decorating church spaces in Byzantium and the larger Mediterranean world of the Middle Ages. We will explore these site-specific, wall-bound images in the context of their making and reception by attending to the issues of artistic labor and patronage, materiality and pictorial medium, visual communication and ideological programming, and viewership and ritual action. Special consideration will be given to methodology. We will critically assess the traditional and current approaches to the study of monumental pictorial art and, more importantly, seek to formulate new perspectives and methods. Open to graduate and undergraduate students.