‘Whether this world is a bunch of atoms or overlooked by Nature, let this be laid down as a maxim, that I am part of a whole.’ In these words, Marcus Aurelius describes an exercise central to ancient Stoic philosophy; the effort to see the human position in relation to a larger cosmic whole. The importance of this exercise endured in medieval Christian ethics. From Augustine’s ‘distension of the soul’, to Boethius’ notion of the ‘eternal present’, to Julian of Norwich’s vision of creation the size of a hazelnut, numerous medieval authors explored how to achieve a ‘view from above’ – from within, and below. Drawing on research for her current book project, Anya’s talk will introduce the significance of this thought experiment in both medieval literature and the visual arts. She’ll ask specifically what drove the phenomenon of downscaled worlds in late-medieval culture – from the many images of the salvator mundi with the world in his hands, to prayer nuts, to the ‘atomic’ prayers of the Cloud of Unknowing, and speculate how these later medieval experiments in compressing the whole might be connected to early modern visual thought, for example the works of Jan and Pieter Breughel.
Anya Burgon is Affiliated Lecturer at the History of Art Department, University of Cambridge, and Bye-Fellow at Lucy Cavendish College. Until October 2025 she was Schulman Research Fellow in the History of Art at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and before that, Postdoctoral Fellow within the international research group, the Centre for Medieval Literature, based at the University of York, where she taught in the Department of English and Related Literature. Her work broadly explores the role of art and imagination in medieval philosophy and theology, with a focus on northern European contexts. She has recently completed her first book entitled Medieval Poiesis, which examines the significance of the artificer, crafts, and ‘mechanical arts’ in philosophy and poetry circa 1100-1500, Hugh of Saint-Victor to Christine de Pizan.
Organised by Dr Tom Nickson, Reader in Medieval Art & Architecture, Courtauld Institute, as part of the Medieval Work-in-Progress Series. This series is generously supported by Sam Fogg.
