Fachbereich 04: Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften - Kunstgeschichte - Kombinations-Masterstudiengänge "Kunstgeschichte" (Studienbeginn bis Sommersemester 2022)

Die Trauben des Zeuxis, die Fliege Giottos und der Tod Leonardos in den Armen des französischen Königs: Seit der Antike kursierten Anekdoten um die außerordentlichen Werke, das große Können und das bewegte Leben einiger bedeutender Künstler und Künstlerinnen. Im Laufe der Jahrhunderte wurden diese legendären Erzählungen weitergereicht, adaptiert und transformiert. Das Seminar widmet sich solchen Anekdoten sowie einzelnen Werken und Biografien, die zur Grundlage neuer Legendenbildungen wurden.

Die Trauben des Zeuxis, die Fliege Giottos und der Tod Leonardos in den Armen des französischen Königs – seit der Antike kursierten Anekdoten um die außerordentlichen Werke, das große Können und das bewegte Leben einiger bedeutender Künstler und Künstlerinnen. Sie beeinflussen bis heute die Wahrnehmung von Kunst. Dem Phänomen der Künstlermythen widmet sich dieses Seminar (in enger Verzahnung mit der Lektüreübung, J. Saviello) an ausgewählten Beispielen, in denen wir untersuchen, in welchen historischen Kontexten es zur Herausbildung bestimmter Legenden kam und wie diese Einfluss auf die spätere Deutung des Kunstwerks nahmen.

The course is devoted to the so-called Crusader Art in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since the First Crusade called for by Pope Urban II in 1095, relations between Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean intensified, but became violent and colonialist. Primarily with the aim of regaining the holy sites of Christianity after the Islamic conquest, but also to acquire land and wealth, the Crusades became a symbol of Christian aggression. After Jerusalem was conquered in 1099, numerous other cities on the Mediterranean coasts were taken over. The pattern of political power changed considerably: Crusader states were established in Greece and the islands of Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus etc., and even the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, fell to the Crusaders in 1204, who established a so-called Latin Empire (1204-1261). This period also saw the emergence of the orders of knights (Knights of Malta, Knights of St. John), around which numerous legends have grown, woven into modern fiction (e.g., the Knights Templar). The same goes for famous persons of the Crusades, such as Richard the Lionhart and Sultan Saladin.
Under Latin rulers, nobility and bishops, Western-influenced art was created, including Gothic cathedrals and conversions of older churches (e.g. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem), sculptures, fortresses and mobile art, such as manuscripts, goldsmiths' works, etc. The art of the Crusader period often takes inspiration from Islamic and Christian aesthetics in a complex entanglement and points to the different religious affiliations of the artists, craftsmen and patrons, who also had works of art made especially for export to their homeland. The term Crusader Art is debated, especially with regard to the clearly European colonialist narrative that it expresses, which will be discussed in the course.
The course will take place online via Zoom and will have the character of a lecture series, but will also include phases of active student teamwork, as well as text and source readings.

Introduction:
https://smarthistory.org/reframing-art-history/material-culture-of-the-crusades/
Further Reading:
Boehm, Barbara Drake, und Melanie Holcomb, eds 2016. Jerusalem 1000-1400: every people under heaven. Book. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Evans, Helen C., Hrsg. 1997. The glory of Byzantium: art and culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843 - 1261; [in conjunction with the exhibition The Glory of Byzantium, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from March 11 through July 6, 1997]. Book. New York, NY: Abrams, esp. pp. 389-401. (available free for download: https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/the-glory-of-byzantium-art-and-culture-of-the-middle-byzantine-era-ad-843-1261).
Folda, Jaroslav. 2008. Crusader art: the art of the crusaders in the Holy Land, 1099 - 1291. Book. 1. publ. Aldershot [u.a.]: Lund Humphries. (borrow online from archive.org: https://archive.org/details/artofcrusadersin0000fold/page/n1/mode/2up)
Folda, Jaroslav. 2005. Crusader art in the Holy Land: from the Third Crusade to the fall of Acre, 1187-1291. Book. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. (https://archive.org/details/folda-crusader-art-in-the-holy-land-1187-1291).

Die Trauben des Zeuxis, die Fliege Giottos und der Tod Leonardos in den Armen des französischen Königs: Seit der Antike kursierten Anekdoten um die außerordentlichen Werke, das große Können und das bewegte Leben einiger bedeutender Künstler und Künstlerinnen. Im Laufe der Jahrhunderte wurden diese legendären Erzählungen weitergereicht, adaptiert und transformiert. Das Seminar widmet sich solchen Anekdoten sowie einzelnen Werken und Biografien, die zur Grundlage neuer Legendenbildungen wurden.

Die Trauben des Zeuxis, die Fliege Giottos und der Tod Leonardos in den Armen des französischen Königs – seit der Antike kursierten Anekdoten um die außerordentlichen Werke, das große Können und das bewegte Leben einiger bedeutender Künstler und Künstlerinnen. Sie beeinflussen bis heute die Wahrnehmung von Kunst. Dem Phänomen der Künstlermythen widmet sich dieses Seminar (in enger Verzahnung mit der Lektüreübung, J. Saviello) an ausgewählten Beispielen, in denen wir untersuchen, in welchen historischen Kontexten es zur Herausbildung bestimmter Legenden kam und wie diese Einfluss auf die spätere Deutung des Kunstwerks nahmen.

The course is devoted to the so-called Crusader Art in the Eastern Mediterranean. Since the First Crusade called for by Pope Urban II in 1095, relations between Central Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean intensified, but became violent and colonialist. Primarily with the aim of regaining the holy sites of Christianity after the Islamic conquest, but also to acquire land and wealth, the Crusades became a symbol of Christian aggression. After Jerusalem was conquered in 1099, numerous other cities on the Mediterranean coasts were taken over. The pattern of political power changed considerably: Crusader states were established in Greece and the islands of Crete, Rhodes, Cyprus etc., and even the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, fell to the Crusaders in 1204, who established a so-called Latin Empire (1204-1261). This period also saw the emergence of the orders of knights (Knights of Malta, Knights of St. John), around which numerous legends have grown, woven into modern fiction (e.g., the Knights Templar). The same goes for famous persons of the Crusades, such as Richard the Lionhart and Sultan Saladin.
Under Latin rulers, nobility and bishops, Western-influenced art was created, including Gothic cathedrals and conversions of older churches (e.g. the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem), sculptures, fortresses and mobile art, such as manuscripts, goldsmiths' works, etc. The art of the Crusader period often takes inspiration from Islamic and Christian aesthetics in a complex entanglement and points to the different religious affiliations of the artists, craftsmen and patrons, who also had works of art made especially for export to their homeland. The term Crusader Art is debated, especially with regard to the clearly European colonialist narrative that it expresses, which will be discussed in the course.
The course will take place online via Zoom and will have the character of a lecture series, but will also include phases of active student teamwork, as well as text and source readings.

Introduction:
https://smarthistory.org/reframing-art-history/material-culture-of-the-crusades/
Further Reading:
Boehm, Barbara Drake, und Melanie Holcomb, eds 2016. Jerusalem 1000-1400: every people under heaven. Book. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Evans, Helen C., Hrsg. 1997. The glory of Byzantium: art and culture of the Middle Byzantine Era A.D. 843 - 1261; [in conjunction with the exhibition The Glory of Byzantium, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from March 11 through July 6, 1997]. Book. New York, NY: Abrams, esp. pp. 389-401. (available free for download: https://www.metmuseum.org/met-publications/the-glory-of-byzantium-art-and-culture-of-the-middle-byzantine-era-ad-843-1261).
Folda, Jaroslav. 2008. Crusader art: the art of the crusaders in the Holy Land, 1099 - 1291. Book. 1. publ. Aldershot [u.a.]: Lund Humphries. (borrow online from archive.org: https://archive.org/details/artofcrusadersin0000fold/page/n1/mode/2up)
Folda, Jaroslav. 2005. Crusader art in the Holy Land: from the Third Crusade to the fall of Acre, 1187-1291. Book. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press. (https://archive.org/details/folda-crusader-art-in-the-holy-land-1187-1291).