• Bacci Michele

For a long time, a strong prejudice weighed on the appreciation of the arts of the first millennium, considered by many as a dark age, dominated by violence and barbarism, in contrast to centuries considered more 'enlightened'. In reality, the early Middle Ages was a period of great artistic vitality, as evidenced by impressive monuments such as the churches of Rome, Ravenna, or Aachen, or unparalleled works of art like the golden altar of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan or the mural paintings of Müstair. The proseminar aims to introduce participants to the many wonders of this little-known era

Participants will be invited to choose an early medieval monument, familiarize themselves with the studies that have deepened its history and interpretation, and create an oral presentation followed by a final written version. Additionally, students are expected to actively participate and engage in fostering discussion about the monuments that will be illustrated.

Reference texts

Alexander, J. G., Insular Manuscripts, 6^th to the 9^th Century: A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles, London 1978.

Bardier-Fronty, I., Denoël, F., Villela-Petit, I. (eds), Les temps mérovingiens : Trois siècles d’art et de culture (451-751), Paris 2016.

Bardiès-Fronty, I., Dectot, X. (eds), Celtes et Scandinaves. Rencontres artistiques VIIe-XIIe siècle, Paris 2008.

Baum, J., Frühmittelalterliche Denkmäler der Schweiz und ihrer Nachbarländer, Bern 1943.

Bertelli, C. (ed.), La pittura in Italia: l’Altomedioevo, Milan 1994.

Bertelli, C., Lombardia medievale. Arte e architettura, Milan 2002.

Bordino, C., Croci, C., Sulovsky, V. (eds.), Rome on the Borders: Visual Cultures during the Carolingian Transition, Brno 2020.

Brown, K. R., Dafydd, K., and Little, Ch. T. (eds), From Attila to Charlemagne: Arts of the Early Medieval Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2000.

Brundle, L., Image and Performance, Agency and Ideology: Representations of the Human Figure in Funerary Contexts in Anglo-Saxon Art, AD 400-680, Oxford 2019.

Caillet, J.-P., L’art carolingien, Paris 2005.

Davis-Weyer, C., Early Medieval Art 300-1150: Sources and Documents, Toronto 2006.

Deichmann, F. W., Ravenna: Hauptstadt des spätantiken Abendlandes, Wiesbaden 1969-1976.

Exner, M., Goll, J., Hirsch, S., Müstair. Die mittelalterlichen Wandbilder in der Klosterkirche, München 2007.

Friedrich, M., Image and Ornament in the Early Medieval West. New Perspectives on Post-Roman Art, Cambridge 2023.

Hubert, J., Porcher, J., Volbach, W. F., L’empire carolingien, Paris 1968.

Hubert, J., Porcher, J., Volbach, W. F., L’Europe des invasions, Paris 1967.

Jäggi, C., Ravenna: Kunst und Kultur einer spätantiken Residenzstadt. Die Bauten und Mosaiken des 5. und 6. Jahrhunderts, Regensburg 2013.

Kitzinger, B., The Cross, the Gospels, and the Work of Art in the Carolingian Age, Cambridge 2019.

Kitzinger, E., Early Medieval Art at the British Museum, London 1983.

O’Neill, J. P. (ed.), The Art of Medieval Spain A.D. 500-1200, New York 1993.

O’Reilly, Jennifer, The Codex Amiatinus, the Book of Kells and Anglo-Saxon Art, London 2019.

Stalley, R., Early Irish Sculpture and the Art of the High Crosses, London 2020.

Weitzmann, K., The Fresco Cycle of S. Maria di Castelseprio, Princeton 1951.

Webster, L., Anglo-Saxon Art: A New History, London 2012.