Apocryphal Iconography: Integration, Adaptation, and Church Tradition, session at the 26th International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds, July 1–4, 2019

The proposed session is devoted to the integration and adaptation of apocryphal sources in the construction of medieval iconographies with the aim of bringing into attention this generally neglected and underrepresented field. Research in this field concentrates mostly on the textual tradition and transmission of apocryphal texts, yet certain aspects still need to be addressed, such as:

The construction and function of apocryphal iconographies;
The context of sources for artists due to lack of information on holy lives;
Apocryphal visual representations and church tradition.

Original work and research is welcomed starting from the Late Antiquity to the Late Middle Ages, both in the East and West. The session refers to the concept of ‘apocrypha/on’ as movable texts whose composition does not end in the 4th - 5th centuries in the context of the establishment and closing of the canon. This permits to address issues concerning the evolution, transmission, adoptation, and adaptation of sources.

This session also aims to bring its intellectual outcomes into the attention of the general public by publishing, contextually, the proceedings of the debates in the series “Picturing the Middle Ages and Early Modernity” at Trivent Publishing, Budapest, Hungary.

Session Organizers
Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky, Ca’ Foscari University
Teodora C. Artimon, Trivent Publishing, Budapest