Paint and Piety

Focusing on objects in Scandinavian collections, the contributors explore the evolving meanings, materials, and techniques of painted surfaces over 450 years. Bridging conservation, science, and art history, the volume forms a key foundation for the University of Oslo’s After the Black Death project, enriching both theoretical and practical understanding of medieval artworks.

These collected essays on medieval painting and polychrome sculpture draw on a spectrum of vantage points and methodologies for studying the phenomena of painting over c.450 years. The papers are based on discussions held in Oslo in 2010 on topics related to medieval objects in Scandinavian collections. The aim of these discussions was to generate a multifaceted overview of current scholarship devoted to medieval paint and painting, and its changing faces and meanings. The sum of the individual contributions is a panorama of the sort that has come to characterise the interactions and rich discourse between conservators, conservation scientists and historians. The resulting knowledge base has become a theoretical and practical underpinning for a project known as ‘After the Black Death: Painting and Polychrome Sculpture in Norway, 1350-1550’ , which is based in Conservation Studies at the University of Oslo.

Foreword Introduction: The medieval collection of the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo: a tradition of scholarship Erla Hohler and Noelle L.W. Streeton Part I. Locating the sacred The longue duree of 'Romanesque' altar decorations: frontals, canopies, and altar sculptures Justin Kroesen The presence of the sacred: relics in medieval wooden statues of Scandinavia Lena Liepe A perspective on medieval perception of Norwegian church art Kaja Kollandsrud Distribution of reliquaries and relics in the bishopric of Holar, c. 1320 Jon Vioar Sigurosson Part II. Artistic production in the thirteenth century The Sedes Sapientiae of the van den Peereboom donation to the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. Materials and techniques of a polychrome sculpture from the beginning of the thirteenth century Emmanuelle Mercier and Jana Sanyova Possible English influence on Danish polychrome wooden sculpture of the thirteenth century Ebbe Nyborg Part III. Objects and the English church The tester over the tomb of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia, Westminster Abbey Abigail Granville Investigating medieval polychromy of West Country rood screens Eddie Sinclair Reflections and translations - carving and painting rood screens Spike Bucklow Part IV. Material histories for late medieval and early modern painting - conservation and the history of art The so-called 'Leka group': new information based on examinations of four triptychs Tone M. Olstad The altarpiece from Vardo church, Finnmark: technological and art historical context Daniela Pawel Bernard van Orley's The Marriage of the Virgin and Christ Among the Doctors: technical examination and the search for context Carol Christiansen and John Hand,

Foreword

Introduction:

The medieval collection of the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo: a tradition of scholarship Erla Hohler and Noëlle L.W. Streeton

Part I. Locating the sacred

The longue durée of ‘Romanesque’ altar decorations: frontals, canopies, and altar sculptures Justin Kroesen

The presence of the sacred: relics in medieval wooden statues of Scandinavia Lena Liepe

A perspective on medieval perception of Norwegian church art Kaja Kollandsrud

Distribution of reliquaries and relics in the bishopric of Hólar, c. 1320 Jón Viðar Sigurðsson

Part II. Artistic production in the thirteenth century

The Sedes Sapientiae of the van den Peereboom donation to the Royal Museum of Art and History in Brussels. Materials and techniques of a polychrome sculpture from the beginning of the thirteenth century Emmanuelle Mercier and Jana Sanyova

Possible English influence on Danish polychrome wooden sculpture of the thirteenth century Ebbe Nyborg

Part III. Objects and the English church

The tester over the tomb of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia, Westminster Abbey Abigail Granville

Investigating medieval polychromy of West Country rood screens Eddie Sinclair

Reflections and translations – carving and painting rood screens Spike Bucklow

Part IV. Material histories for late medieval and early modern painting - conservation and the history of art

The so-called ‘Leka group’: new information based on examinations of four triptychs Tone M. Olstad

The altarpiece from Vardø church, Finnmark: technological and art historical context Daniela Pawel

Bernard van Orley’s The Marriage of the Virgin and Christ Among the Doctors: technical examination and the search for context Carol Christiansen and John Hand

• Edited by Noëlle L.W. Streeton
• Edited by Kaja Kollandsrud

"Interesting and stimulating [...] this rich collection of essays manages to fulfill the objective of the conference 'to gain a multifaceted overview of current scholarship devoted to medieval paint, painting and its contexts,' and manages to provide the reader with insights into some lesser known works and locations of medieval paint and piety." Art and Christianity - No. 80, Winter 2014 "The book, which is an attractive volume with colour images throughout, covers a lot of ground, temporally, geographically and thematically. [...] This volume allows access to English speaking audiences for material often tackled in German and French. It is also a welcome taster of the fruits of research set to come from the researches of the Painting and Polychrome Sculpture in Norway, 1350-1550 project in coming years." ICON News - July 2014 "The relatively small format of this book belies its ample content. [...] Its content centres on the considerable advantages to be gained by actively pooling different specialist-centred methods of object research, particularly as found in the relatively new field of "technical art history", a combination of traditional academic art-curatorship and conservation in both its scientific and practical forms. [...] On the whole, each of the essays delivers an interesting perspective on recent advances in research methods, albeit in the very specific geographical and chronological context of the publication." The Art Newspaper - No. 262, November 2014
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The book, which is an attractive volume with colour images throughout, covers a lot of ground, temporally, geographically and thematically. [...] This volume allows access to English speaking audiences for material often tackled in German and French. It is also a welcome taster of the fruits of research set to come from the researches of the Painting and Polychrome Sculpture in Norway, 1350-1550 project in coming years.

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The relatively small format of this book belies its ample content. [...] Its content centres on the considerable advantages to be gained by actively pooling different specialist-centred methods of object research, particularly as found in the relatively new field of "technical art history", a combination of traditional academic art-curatorship and conservation in both its scientific and practical forms. [...] On the whole, each of the essays delivers an interesting perspective on recent advances in research methods, albeit in the very specific geographical and chronological context of the publication.

—

Interesting and stimulating [...] this rich collection of essays manages to fulfill the objective of the conference 'to gain a multifaceted overview of current scholarship devoted to medieval paint, painting and its contexts,' and manages to provide the reader with insights into some lesser known works and locations of medieval paint and piety.

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