Department of Art History

Like in the ancient period, much of the monumental art that was commissioned in the European Middle Ages served as the setting for ritual activity; many of the portable artworks that survive were used as its tools. While most of the remaining artistic evidence from the early Middle Ages is associated with Christian practices, later centuries provide rich evidence for art used in diverse ritual contexts, whether by Christians, Muslims, or Jews, in public or in private, or in secular ceremonial. This seminar will take the early revolution of Christian rituals as its starting point and build from there, but student research projects can focuson ritual art from any medieval period or population.