Conférence donnée dans le cadre des Jeudis de l'histoire de l'art (section d'histoire de l'art, UNIL)
Attention! Exceptionnellement cette conférence a lieu un mercredi au lieu d'un jeudi!
Medieval and Renaissance books of hours are often regarded primarily as vehicles for women’s devotional practice. Already in their own day, to the degree that they were richly illuminated with the most precious available materials, they were also viewed as objects of feminine vanity. They grew to become status symbols, not only for their costliness, but also for the splendor and originality of their art. While the history of French manuscript illumination in the fourteenth century is noteworthy for the concentration of innovative prayer books intended for female owners, by the fifteenth century men play an increasingly important and influential role as patrons of lavish French prayer books. With their patronage came a variety of innovations to devotional content, changes that bend spiritual content toward the worldly, even the profane. This talk examines the role of male patrons in exacerbating the tensions within French devotional art of this time.
Thomas Kren a été jusqu'en 2015 directeur associé des collections du Musée Getty, dont il créé puis dirigé pendant 35 ans le département des manuscrits, en en faisant l'une des collections les plus importantes des États-Unis. Auteur de nombreuses publications dans le domaine des manuscrits, il a également organisé plusieurs expositions majeures, dont The Renaissance Nude, actuellement visible à la Royal Academy of Arts de Londres.