Volume 8, Issue 2 (2022)

Welcome to Volume 8, Issue 2

This issue focuses on transformations (visual and physical) and how that helped create a variety of civic, pilgrimage, and monastic identities. Dawn Cunningham analyzes how the production of the portal decoration was extended over many years and how its meaning would interact with the changing function of the doorway to the church. Ivan Foletti and Martin F. Lešák’s article looks back at the complex and successful project of studying Romanesque art and architecture on the pilgrimage road by recreating the experience of the pilgrimage. Physicality, landscape, and even something as simple as sitting at the base of a portal reveals the varying experiences of the pilgrims. Anna-Maria Moubayed explores the meanings of the iconographical narrative of Saint-Gabriel Chapel, Provence in relation to its socio-cultural context and liturgical purposes. The spolia, specifically, are studied in the context of a movement of the Church, at the time, referring back to the Apostolic Age. Gillian Elliott investigates the angel sculptures from this church in the early 12th-century, fashioned to recall the “glory days” of Lombard unity and military strength. Rebecca Ruppar describes how the mendicant order incorporated natural elements in their wood-panel paintings participating as a hierophany, offering a deeply spiritual meaning embodied in its materiality.

This issue also includes a special photo essay by artist Joseph Lo Pinto, who discusses how medieval gargoyles inspired him and how he approaches creating drawings of these creatures. Also in this issue are five thoughtful reviews of books on medieval art and material culture by Stephanie Azzarello, Alexandra Kaczenski, Reed O’Mara, Bailey Sullivan, Lena Walhgren-Smith introducing volumes on many topics from medieval Bologna to Sidonius Apollinaris to how knowledge was visualized in the Middle Ages.

Peregrinations Monographs

Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art & Architecture is launching a new feature, that of Peregrinations Monographs. This highlights book-length research as a separate, but connected part of the issue. It offers authors and readers a chance to explore a topic deeply with many more images than commonly found in monographs presented by traditional publishers. In this issue, Christian Etheridge explores the complexity and artistic interaction of the marvelous 14th-century wall murals at Birkerød Church in Denmark, reflecting mendicant order sponsorship and conceptions.

Ongoing Feature: Photobank

The Photobank database continues to serve as a resource for scholars and teachers. Please note that our Photobank has undergone considerable renovation and is now part of Digital Kenyon at Kenyon College. You can search by typing in a key word or name in the search box (e.g. Canterbury). The Photobank continues to grow with copyright-free images all downloadable for use in research and teaching.

The Future/h1>

For future issues we are actively seeking articles on any aspect of medieval art and architecture, including: long and short scholarly articles, scholarly book reviews, review articles on issues facing the field of medieval art history, interesting notes and announcements, useful website recommendations, new archeological discoveries, and recent museum acquisitions. We are interested in publishing articles that will undergo double-blind review as well as those which are subject only to regular editing processes, including articles that are the result of preliminary research. We are also looking for images to add to our photobank, to be shared and used by anyone in the classroom and in their research. To round out the scholarly portion of the journal, we are also seeking short, amusing excerpts from medieval sources, comments on the Middle Ages in movies and popular culture, etc.