Giotto’s Circle

Autumn Term

Monday 23 October, 5:30 pm (NB later start time) In-person session

Michela Young  (University of Cambridge)

“The Strozzi sacristy as liturgical space: re-considering Fra Angelico’s Deposition“

Monday 20 November, 5.00pm (online)

Maria Harvey (James Madison University)

“‘I am a woman, born to shed tears’: constructing a gendered, minoritised identity in Santa Caterina (Galatina).”

Monday 11 December, 5:00pm (online)

Lucy Wrapson (Hamilton Kerr Institute)

‘New insights into Simone Martini’s altarpiece for Sant’Agostino in San Gimignano’

Spring Term

No papers – Giotto’s O takes a break

Summer Term

Thursday 25 April, 5:00pm (online)

Claudia Bolgia (Università degli Studi di Udine)

‘Reading sources to re-read artworks: the half-length images of Boniface VIII and Benedict XII in old St Peter’s’

Monday 17 June, 5:00pm (online)

Dominic Ferrante (Robert Simon Fine Art, NY)

‘Reopening the Boston Duccio: The Triptych in the Museum of Fine Arts’

Autumn Term

Monday 31 October, 5pm

Lisa Monnas (Independent Scholar), ‘Maphoria, wimples, gorgets and veils worn by the Virgin in Tuscan Painting 1250-1400’

Monday 21 November, 5pm

Zuleika Murat (Università degli Studi di Padova), ‘Material and Immaterial Aspects of Eucharistic Devotion in Late Medieval Venice: the Cristo Passo of the Gallerie dell’Accademia’

Monday  5 December, 5pm – in person at the Courtauld, Vernon Square

Diana Norman (Open University), ‘’Why did Simone Martini leave Siena for Avignon? A possible explanation’

Spring Term

Monday 13 February, 5.30 pm in person at the Courtauld, Vernon Square.

Stephanie Wisowaty (Yale University), ‘Painted Processional Crosses in Late Medieval Central Italy: Questions Concerning Form and Function’

Monday 24 April, 5pm

Renana Bartal (Tel Aviv University), ‘Beyond Christ’s Humanity: Vision, Contemplation and the Poor Clares in Trecento Umbria  (Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 410)

Summer Term

Monday 15 May, 5pm

Alexis Wang (Binghamton University), ‘Mirrors, Rainbows, and the Catoptric Image in the Arena Chapel’

Giosuè Fabiano (Courtauld), ‘Wrath, Dazzlement, and an Overlooked Detail in Giotto’s Last Judgement’

All sessions were held online.

Papers were delivered by the following speakers: Katie Ault (Open University), Péter Bokody (University of Plymouth), Anne Derbes (Hood College) Stefania Gerevini (Università Bocconi, Milan), Jeffrey Hamburger (Harvard University), Machtelt Israëls (University of Amsterdam and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), Amy Neff (University of Tennessee, Knoxville).

All sessions were held online

Papers were delivered by the following speakers: Donal Cooper (Cambridge), Giulio Dalvit (Frick Collection), Giosuè Fabiano (Courtauld and Hertziana), Lucas Giles (Cambridge), Amelia Hope-Jones (University of Edinburgh), Laura Jacobus (Birkbeck), Chloe Kellow (Courtauld), Jules Lubbock (University of Essex), Scott Nethersole (Courtauld), Luca Palozzi (Kunsthisorisches Institut, Florence), Gaia Ravalli (Pisa, Scuola Normale Superiore), John Renner (Courtauld), Jessica Richardson ((Kunsthisorisches Institut, Florence), Michaela Zoeschg (V&A).

Papers were delivered by the following speakers: Claudia Bolgia (Università degli Studi di Udine), Joanna Cannon (Courtauld), Maria Harvey (University of Cambridge), Péter Tóth, (British Library).The annual programme was cut short by COVID-19.  It is hoped to present the postponed papers in the coming Academic Year.

The annual public event was a lecture by Anne Derbes (Professor Emerita, Hood College), held jointly with the Courtauld Medieval Work-in-Progress Seminar, ‘Gender and Ritual in the Baptistery of Padua’.

Engaging with the Trecento – Panel discussion

Giotto’s Circle, Thursday 15 June 2017, 17:00 – 19:00, Research Forum Seminar Room

 Prompted by the recent arrival of two early-fourteenth-century Italian paintings in permanent collections of UK Galleries (Pietro Lorenzetti at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, and Giovanni da Rimini at the National Gallery, London) this panel presentation explores the mechanisms behind such acquisitions, and the challenges and opportunities in presenting unfamiliar material to present-day gallery visitors. How can museums and galleries introduce such works to a wider public, communicate the significance of these rare acquisitions, encourage viewers to engage fruitfully with them, and integrate these works into their permanent displays? And how do present-day approaches compare with those of previous centuries?

Panel members include curators involved in these acquisitions and interpretations, at Hull and at the National Gallery, and in the redisplay of the early Italian paintings of the Lycett Green Collection in the permanent collection at York Art Gallery. A series of short presentations will be followed by panel discussion.

Panel

Caroline Campbell (Head of the Curatorial Department and Curator of Italian Paintings before 1500, National Gallery)

Eloise Donnelly (University of Cambridge/British Museum collaborative doctorate; formerly Art Fund Curatorial Trainee, National Gallery/York Art Gallery)

Anna Koopstra (Simon Sainsbury Curatorial Assistant, National Gallery)

Kirsten Simister (Curator of Art, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull)

Imogen Tedbury (Courtauld Institute/National Gallery collaborative doctorate)

Lucy West (Art Fund Curatorial Trainee, National Gallery/Ferens Art Gallery, Hull)

Chair: Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute)

Academic year 2018-19

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:

Renana Bartal (Tel Aviv University), Stefania Gerevini (Università Bocconi, Milan), Eowyn Kerr-Di Carlo (Courtauld Institute), and Imogen Tedbury (Royal Holloway, University of London),

At a round-table session, Light depicted, light experienced, short papers were presented by Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute), Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge), Giosuè Fabiano (Courtauld Institute), Laura Jacobus (Birkbeck), and John Renner (Courtauld Institute).

Academic year 2017-18

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:

Federico Botana (Independent Scholar), Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute), Andrew Chen (St John’s College, Cambridge) Glyn Davies (Museum of London), Lloyd de Beer (British Museum), Kayoko Ichikawa (University of Fribourg), Krisztina Ilko (Cambridge), Matko Matija Marušić (Institute of Art History, Zagreb), Morag McLintock (Birkbeck), John Renner (Courtauld Institute).

Academic year 2016-17

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:

Valentina Baradel (Università degli Studi di Padova), Sally Cornelison (Syracuse University) – joint meeting with the Courtauld Renaissance Seminar, Jill Dunkerton (National Gallery, London), Laura Jacobus, (Birkbeck College), Anna Koopstra (National Gallery, London), Anthony McGrath (Independent Scholar), Gerd Micheluzzi (Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Vienna), Gaia Ravalli (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa), Jessica Richardson (Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florenz), Imogen Tedbury (Courtauld Institute and National Gallery, London), Janet van der Meulen (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam).

During the year there were also small-group visits to Birmingham to study Sienese paintings in the City Art Gallery and the Barber Institute, to the National Gallery Conservation Studio, to study with Jill Dunkerton a Man of Sorrows with the Virgin, attributed to a Neapolitan follower of Giotto, a handling session of Sienese objects at the British Museum, held jointly with the Courtauld Medieval and Byzantine handling sessions, and a visit to the National Gallery Exhibition on Giovanni da Rimini, accompanied by exhibition curator, Anna Koopstra, and Larry Keith, Head of Conservation at the National Gallery.

The annual public event was a panel presentation and discussion ‘Engaging with the Trecento’

The panel members were Caroline Campbell (Head of the Curatorial Department and Curator of Italian Paintings before 1500, National Gallery), Eloise Donnelly (University of Cambridge/British Museum collaborative doctorate; formerly Art Fund Curatorial Trainee, National Gallery/York Art Gallery), Anna Koopstra (Simon Sainsbury Curatorial Assistant, National Gallery), Kirsten Simister (Curator of Art, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull), Imogen Tedbury (Courtauld Institute/National Gallery collaborative doctorate), Lucy West (Art Fund Curatorial Trainee, National Gallery/Ferens Art Gallery, Hull), Chair: Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute) (Recorded selections from this event to be posted on the internet.)

Academic year 2015-16

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:

Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute), Emma Capron (Courtauld Institute), Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge), Denva Jackson (Harvard University), Anthony McGrath (Independent Scholar), Manlio Leo Mezzacasa (University of Padua), John Renner (Courtauld Institute), Imogen Tedbury (Courtauld Institute/National Gallery).

A handling session was hosted by Richard Deutsch, to whom we are most grateful.

As in the previous year, Donal Cooper organised a whole-day session of Giotto’s O, including papers, discussion, a gallery visit and a handling session, held in Cambridge in June. It was attended by scholars from London and Cambridge.  Study of a Sienese chalice and an Embriachi casket in the Fitzwilliam Museum was led by Glyn Davies (V&A); an Augustinian Gradual and a Dominican Bible were viewed in the Founder’s Library; and papers were delivered by Péter Bokody (University of Plymouth), Krisztina Ilko (University of Cambridge) and Maria Harvey (University of Cambridge).

The annual public event was a lecture delivered by Professor Serena Romano (University of Lausanne) on the exhibition ‘Giotto. L’Italia’, held in Milan, which she co-curated.

Academic year 2014-15

Papers were delivered by the following speakers: Mike Collier (Courtauld Institute), Julian Gardner (University of Warwick), Stefania Gerevini (British School at Rome), Jill Harrison (Open University), Laura Jacobus (Birkbeck), Liz James (University of Sussex), Bryan Keene (Courtauld Institute/Getty Museum), Beth Williamson (University of Bristol).

Thanks to the generosity and energy of Donal Cooper and Stella Panayotova a whole-day session of Giotto’s O, including papers, discussion, a gallery visit and a handling session, was held in Cambridge in June. It was attended by students from London and Cambridge.  Papers were delivered by Joanna Cannon and Donal Cooper, Simone Martini’s Fitzwilliam Polyptych was viewed, and a handling session with a wide variety of Italian material was held in the Founder’s Library of the Fitzwilliam, led by the Keeper of Manuscripts, Stella Panayotova.

A one-day public event, ‘Berlin Remixed’, presenting papers first delivered at sessions of the RSA conference in Berlin, was organized by Joanna Cannon and held in the Courtauld Research Forum Seminar Room. The twelve speakers were: Bryony Bartlett-Rawlings (Courtauld Institute); Federico Botana (Queen Mary, University of London); Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute); Caroline Campbell (National Gallery); Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge); Paul Hills (Courtauld Institute); Scott Nethersole (Courtauld Institute); Eva Papoulia (Courtauld Institute); Federica Pich (University of Leeds); Alexander Röstel (Courtauld Institute); Janet Robson (Independent Scholar);  Michaela Zoeschg (Courtauld Institute /Victoria and Albert Museum). See the Research Forum online archive for abstracts of the papers.

Academic year 2013-2014

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:

Federico Botana (Queen Mary, University of London), Peter Dent (University of Bristol), Julian Gardner (University of Warwick), Dillian Gordon (National Gallery, Emeritus), Kayoko Ichikawa (University of Warwick), Zuleika Murat (University of Padua/University of Warwick), John Renner (Courtauld Institute), Michaela Zöschg (Courtauld Institute). Round-table discussion of the recent exhibition Giotto e compagni at the Louvre. Opening remarks by Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge).

Two handling sessions, organised by Karen Serres (Curator, Courtauld Gallery) were held in the Courtauld’s Department of Conservation and Technology: Spinello Aretino’s Nativity, led by Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge), and Guido da Siena’s Coronation of the Virgin, led by Kayoko Ichikawa (University of Warwick).

A one-day international conference, ‘Art, Architecture and the Friars: New Work and Future Prospects’, organised by Joanna Cannon, was hosted by the Courtauld Research Forum, with the support of the Department of Art History, University of Cambridge.  The speakers were: Claudia Bolgia (University of Edinburgh), Caroline Bruzelius (Duke University), Donal Cooper (University of Cambridge), Erik Gustafson, Amy Neff (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), John Renner (Courtauld Institute), Janet Robson (Independent Scholar), Michaela Zöschg (Courtauld Institute). Chairs and respondents were: Paul Binski (University of Cambridge), Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute) Jeffery Hamburger (Harvard University), Julian Luxford (University of St Andrews), Gervase Rosser (University of Oxford).

Academic year 2012-2013

Papers were delivered by the following speakers: Joanne Anderson (University of Warwick), Claudia Bolgia (University of Edinburgh), Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute), James Cameron (Courtauld Institute), Caroline Campbell (National Gallery), Ingrid Dixon (Independent Scholar), Dillian Gordon (National Gallery, Emeritus), Kayoko Ichikawa (University of Warwick), Bram Kempers (University of Amsterdam, joint event with Courtauld Renaissance Seminar), Anthony McGrath (University of Sussex), Stella Panayotova (Fitzwilliam Museum, joint event with Medieval Work-in-Progress Seminar), John Renner (Courtauld Institute), Jessica Richardson (Villa I Tatti).

Visit to Louvre exhibition, Giotto e Compagni (with financial support from Sam Fogg).

Academic year 2011-2012

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Renana Bartal (The Hebrew University, Jerusalem) ; Janet Robson (Courtauld Institute and Birkbeck College) ; Laura Fenelli (Warburg Institute, visiting scholar); Joanne Allen (Istituto Universitario Olandese, Florence, visiting scholar).

Janet Robson chaired an ‘Open Circle’ session during which short papers were delivered by Federico Botana (University of Reading), James A. Cameron (Courtauld Institute), Anthony McGrath (University of Sussex), and Michaela Zöschg (Courtauld Institute).

Academic year 2010-2011

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Gervase Rosser (University of Oxford); Donal Cooper (University of Warwick); Lucy Donkin (Courtauld Institute); Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute); Linda Pisani (Università di Pisa); John Farrington (Independent Scholar); Zuleika Murat (Università di Padova).

In the summer term Amy Neff (University of Tennessee, Knoxville) gave a public lecture, ‘Visual Forms of Franciscan Pastoral Care: The Humble Man’s Wedding at Cana’.  She also addressed a joint meeting of Giotto’s O and the Medieval Work-in-Progress Seminar on the subject ‘Landscapes of Prayer in Franciscan Stained-Glass and Painted Panel: Cave, Revelation, Wound’.

Giotto’s O sponsored two linked sessions on the theme ‘Representing Poverty: Charitable Piety and Holy Models’ at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds. The sessions were convened by Federico Botana and Jessica Richardson who also both delivered papers, and chaired by Joanna Cannon and Jessica Richardson.

Academic year 2009-2010

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Joanne Allen (University of Warwick); Peter Bokody (Central European University Budapest); Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute); Stefania Gerevini (Courtauld Institute); Jill Harrison (Open University); Anthony McGrath (University of Sussex); Jessica Richardson (CASVA, Washington DC), Zoe Willis (University of Warwick).

In the summer term, a public afternoon session was held in the Kenneth Clark lecture theatre in which Julian Gardner (Professor Emeritus, University of Warwick) repeated two of his Bernard Berenson lectures (originally delivered at Villa I Tatti, and now awaiting publication), ‘Giotto among the Money-Changers’ and ‘The Lull before the Storm’.

During the year there was a visit to Siena, together with colleagues and research students of the Renaissance Section, to see the exhibitions Da Jacopo della Quercia a Donatello. Le arti a Siena nel primo rinascimento and Marco Romano e il contesto artistico senese tra la fine del Duecento e gli inizi del Trecento, at Casole d’Elsa.

Academic year 2008-2009

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Federico Botana (Courtauld Institute); Roberto Cobianchi (University of Messina); Donal Cooper (University of Warwick); Glyn Davies (Victoria and Albert Museum); Peter Dent (University of Warwick); Giovanni Freni (Index of Christian Art, Princeton); Francesco Lucchini (Courtauld Institute);  Diana Norman (Open University); Janet Robson (Birkbeck College).

A palaeography study day was convened by Donal Cooper (University of Warwick).  This very successful event may prove to be a pilot for future palaeography-related activities.

Two events were hosted jointly with the Research Forum under the aegis of the Writing Art History project: a round-table, entitled Writing about Giotto, with Laura Jacobus (Birkbeck College), Anne Derbes, and Mark Sandona (Hood College), chaired by Joanna Cannon; and a lecture The Patron’s Turn: Giotto, Enrico Scrovegni, and the Arena Chapel in Padua,delivered by Anne Derbes and Mark Sandona.

During the year there was a visit to Paris, together with colleagues and research students of the Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance Sections to see the exhibitions Treasures from Athos (Petit Palais), Les primitives italiens (Musée Jaquemart-André), Les premiers retables (Louvre), and objects in the permanent collections at the Louvre and in the Musée national des Monuments Français.

Academic year 2007-2008

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Federico Botana (Courtauld Institute); Virginia Brilliant (Cleveland Museum of Art); Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute);  Brendan Cassidy (University of St. Andrews); Donal Cooper (University of Warwick); Christa Gardner von Teuffel (University of Warwick, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance [joint meeting with Renaissance Section Seminar]);  Laura Jacobus (Birkbeck College); Gail Solberg (associated Colleges of the Midwest).

Two events were hosted jointly with the Research Forum: a symposium, Renaissance Siena: Studying a City and its Art, in connection with the National Gallery exhibition, with papers by Machtelt Israels (University of Amsterdam and Villa I Tatti), Luke Syson National Gallery), Fabrizio Nevola (Oxford Brookes University), and Philippa Jackson (Independent Scholar); and a lecture by Henk Van Os (University of Amsterdam), in the intellectual formation seminar series.

During the year there was a visit to the Renaissance Siena exhibition at the National Gallery, convened by Jessica Richardson, and accompanied by Jennifer Sliwka, one of the curators of the exhibition.  There was also a two-day visit to Berlin, together with colleagues and research students of the Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance Sections, to see the newly-opened Byzantine, Medieval and Renaissance Galleries at the Bode Museum, and to visit the exhibition Cennino Cennini, Fanatsie und Handwerk, at the Gemäldegalerie.

Academic year 2006-2007

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Joanne Allen (University of Warwick); Peter Dent (Courtauld Institute); Francesco Lucchini (Courtauld Institute); Diana Norman (Open University); Jessica Richardson (Courtauld Institute); Frithjof Schwartz  (Universität Mainz) [Joint meeting with Courtauld Institute Medieval Section]; Anke Sievers (formerly University of Groningen);  Erling Skaug (Professor Emeritus, University of Oslo);  Anthea Stevens (Courtauld Institute); Michele Tomasi (University of Lausanne)

During the year there was also a visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, convened by Glyn Davies, to look at an Umbrian Crucifix (late 12th/early 13th Century, Garrison Number 475) currently in store.  A two-day visit was made to Antwerp, together with colleagues and research students of the Renaissance Section, organised by Susie Nash with the assistance of Doug Brine, to see the Netherlandish Diptychs exhibition at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten/Musée de Beaux-Arts, to visit the conservation department; and to study the Simone Martini Orsini polyptych and other Italian works in that collection and in the Museum Mayer van den Bergh.

Academic year 2005-2006

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Louise Bourdua (University of Aberdeen); Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute), Donal Cooper (University of Warwick), Janet Robson (Birkbeck College), Gervase Rosser (St. Catherine’s College, Oxford, [joint meeting with Renaissance Section Seminar]), Glyn Davies (Victoria and Albert Museum).

During the year Giotto’s Circle also hosted a demonstration of a virtual tour of the Upper Church of S. Francesco at Assisi produced by the Institute of Digital Theology, based at the University of St. Louis.  There was a visit to the Conservation Department of the National Gallery to view paintings from the Reunions exhibition, accompanied by Dillian Gordon and Simona di Nepi (exhibition organiser).  A two-day visit was made to the exhibition Geschichten auf Gold at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, together with interested researchers from elsewhere in the Institute, accompanied by Dr. Stefan Weppelmann, the exhibition organiser.

Academic year 2004-2005

Papers were delivered by the following speakers:
Claudia Bolgia (Pembroke College, Cambridge), Virginia Brilliant (Courtauld Institute), Joanna Cannon (Courtauld Institute), Donal Cooper (Victoria and Albert Museum), Peter Dent (Courtauld Institute), Emily Howe (formerly Courtauld Institute, currently independent conservator), Amy Neff (University of Knoxville, Tennessee), Kay Sutton (Christies, Dept. of Manuscripts),  Janet Robson (Birkbeck College), Tom de Wesselow (Department of Art History, Cambridge), Lucy Wrapson (Courtauld Institute).

A day-trip to the exhibition Cimabue a Pisa was made, together with interested researchers from elsewhere in the Institute, and from the University of Sussex, accompanied by Michele Bacci of the University of Siena.