Gothic architecture in Spain or the Spanish kingdoms has traditionally been assessed in terms of its imitation of French and Netherlandish architecture, dismissed for its ‘old-fashioned’ or provincial quality, and condemned for its passive receptivity to ‘Islamic influence’. But did imitation really triumph over invention in the architecture of medieval Iberia? Are the two incompatible? Can inventio and imitatio offer useful or valid analytical tools for understanding gothic architecture? And to what extent are invention or imitation determined by patrons, architects, materials or technologies? In this one-day symposium scholars examine gothic architecture from across Iberia from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. The symposium concludes the 2014-17 Coll & Cortés Medieval Spain series on gothic architecture.
Programme
10-10.30: Registration
10.30-10.45: Welcome
Tom Nickson, Courtauld Institute of Art
Chair: Paul Binski, University of Cambridge
10.45-11.15: From Compostela’s ecstatic glory to Ourense’s agonic paradise
Rocío Sánchez Ameijeiras, University of Santiago de Compostela
11.15-11.45: Marks of magnificence? The role of ornament in Spanish Gothic Architecture
Henrik Karge, Technical University, Dresden
11.45-12.15: Inventio in Majorcan Gothic Architecture c. 1300: James II and Raymond Llull
Javier Martínez de Aguirre, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
12.15-12.45: Discussion
12.45-2: Lunch (provided for speakers/chairs)
Chair: Nicola Jennings, Courtauld Institute of Art
2.00-2.30: Architecture and aesthetic practices in fourteenth-century Castile
Elena Paulino Montero, Kunsthistorisches Institute, Florence
2.30-3.00: Patterns of intention: Royal chapels in the Crown of Aragon (14th-15th centuries)
Amadeo Serra Desfilis, Universitat de València
3.00-3.30: New functions, new typologies: Inventio in Valladolid’s College of San Gregorio
Diana Olivares Martínez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
3.30-4.00: Discussion
4-4.30: Tea/coffee (provided)
Chair: Tom Nickson, Courtauld Institute of Art
4.30-5.00: From royal pantheon to parish church: The monastic church of San Juan de los Reyes as model for San Andrés, Toledo
Costanza Beltrami, Courtauld Institute of Art
5-5.30: Hallenkirchen and Spanish Gothic architecture: Architectural imitation and historiographic invention
Begoña Alonso, University of Cantabria
5.30-6.00: Closing discussion
6.00: Reception