© Elisabeth Gruber
We are pleased to invite you to the next lecture in the lecture series Material Worlds – The Virtual Salon at IMAREAL.
Marianne Mödlinger: Bronze doors of the 11th-12th century in Europe: Documentation, Analysis and Evaluation
on Wednesday, 29 November 2023, 17:00-19:00 (CET).
Around 30 doors made of various copper alloys from the 11th-12th centuries have survived to this day as the only surviving complex of large medieval bronzes. The majority of the doors are located in Italy. The doors were made using the lost wax technique; they could be cast as a whole from various copper alloys, or individual metal fittings were attached to a wooden support. Some doors have inlays made of different materials, which made it possible to depict various biblical scenes or saints in colour.
These doors have now been fully documented for the first time in high resolution and three-dimensionally, the chemical composition has been analysed non-destructively and the type and date of the wood used for the carrier material has been determined for selected doors. This provides us with information about the materials and techniques used, how and which craftsmen, artists and clients were involved in the manufacturing process and how the materials used and the pictorial representations on the doors together created meaning.
In previous art and cultural-historical studies of the doors, little attention has been paid to the production itself and the interplay between the material and the paintings. Comprehensive material analyses of all the doors on site have now made it possible for the first time to answer questions about their manufacture, the choice of materials and their significance.
During the lecture, the three-year research project launched at IMAREAL (University of Salzburg) in January 2022 and funded by the FWF will be presented and the first project results presented.
The lecture will take place online via Teams. More information about the lecture series can be found on the institute website.
Please register for the event via the conference tool to gain access to the Teams meeting. We look forward to your participation!
With best regards on behalf of IMAREAL.