'Otherness' in Space and Architecture
Jews, Muslims and Christians in Western European Art (1200-1650)
Published on 17. December 2020
Book
Paperback/Softback
212 pages
978-3-0343-3506-5 (ISBN)
Description
This conference proceeding (Sessions on "Otherness in Space and Architecture", International Medieval Conference, Leeds, 2017 and 2018) is a compilation of articles written by both young and senior scholars, who are working on the question of the 'self' and the 'other' in Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures. The articles examine how material, 'oriental' objects and knowledge originating in non-Western communities helped building and strengthening the identity of Iberia's, southern France and northern Italian nobility and its lineages. It is shown how, in the perception of Christians, the public image of Jews and Moslems became constructed as that of adversaries, while their cultural knowledge, at the same time, would be integrated into Christian culture in a paradox manner, in which the 'self' necessarily depends on the 'other' and how visual tensions in art and space have been used as symbols of power.
More details
Person
Since 2016 Maria Portmann is chief conservator of historic monuments and sites in the Canton of the Valais (Switzerland). Since 2019, she is a research fellow for the project COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Action - "Islamic Legacy: Narratives East, West, South, North of the Mediterranean (1350-1750)". Between 2012 and 2016, she has been a grant holder of the Swiss National Fund for her postdoc research about "Jews and Christians in Western Art (1300-1600)." She has been in residence at the Kunsthistorisches Institut - Max-Planck Institut in Florenz (Italy), Ludwig Maximilian University and at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich (Germany) and at the University of Zurich (Switzerland). She earned her PhD at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). In parallel of her PhD (2009-2011), she was a research fellow for a Spanish National Project at the University of Málaga (Spain).
Content
Table of Contents - List of Contributors - Synopsis - Introduction: (Maria Portmann) - The Castle and the Lily: Samuel Ha-Levi's Synagogue and the Crises of 14th-Century Castile: (Michael Conrad) - Jews and Conversos in Christian Space: Distinctive Signs of the 'Other' in the St. Blaise Chapel in the Cathedral of Toledo in Spain: (Maria Portmann) - Between Public and Private Spheres: The Valencian Jewish Quarter in Christian Space: (Ruben Gregori) - 'Never Was Raised Such a Monument of this Stature': The Alhambra and Palace of the Popes in the 14th Century: (April L. Najjaj) - Sacred Places: The Cubas from Southern Portugal: (Luis Ferro) - Allies of the Order: Guilt-Projecting Witticism and Moral Discredit through Fantastic Non-Human Appearances Referring to Religious Others: (Maria Vittoria Spissu) - Ephemeral Art and Otherness: The Image of the Muslim in Valencian Festivities and Triumphal Entries in the 16th and 17th Centuries: (Borja Franco Llopis) - Tribute to Caesar: The Medicis' Giraffe: (Alessandra Mascia) - Survivals of Otherness: Astrological Frescoes in the Palazzo of Schifanoia in Ferrara, Italy: (Catherine Schaller Perret) - Index