Final exhibition project for the course Medieval Art History. Based on knowledge acquired over the course of the semester, design a fictional museum exhibition that best exemplifies the spirit of the Middle Ages. A minimum of five works of art/objects from the course text, our supplementary resources, museum websites, or online image repositories, among other sources, are required. Provide a thorough and thoughtful rationale for each while considering issues related to form, style, subject matter, symbolism, medium/materials, technique, use/function, and context.

Abstract

As Pilgrims followed the way of St. James to spiritual enlightenment at Santiago, https://lightofthedarkages.com, visitors can take a pilgrimage through time. The Light of the Dark Ages is a digital exhibition curated from roughly a one-thousand-year history span, focusing on medieval art, architecture, and intelligence. This digital presentation hopes to shed light (pun intended) on works of art created during the Middle Ages.

Light of the Dark Ages was a semester-long research presentation for ARH 3321 Medieval Art. The core of the assignment was to create a Medieval Art exhibition based on knowledge acquired over the semester. Students were to create a fictional exhibition that best exemplifies the spirit of the Middle Ages. We were required to select a minimum of five works of art from the course text. We could choose any paintings, sculptures, architectural elements, manuscripts, or decorative objects we wished to use—within the course’s scope. Students were required to provide a thorough and thoughtful rationale for each selected art object in the form of 3-4 paragraphs (or a minimum of 1 page of text per work) with proper citations. The descriptions needed to consider form, style, subject matter, symbolism, medium/materials, technique, use/function, and context. While the project was supposed to present a slide-based format, I received permission from the professor to deviate from the project’s original scope and create a website for this fictional art exhibition.

This digital presentation hopes to shed light (pun intended) on works created by the people of the Middle Ages to prove that the era was anything but “dark.” Each sculpture, painting, or architectural element was selected based on the concept of illumination. For Medieval Europeans, pilgrimages to holy sites were a momentous event critical to the churches along pilgrimage routes. Church construction, artwork, and reliquaries were designed to draw in the crowds. One route for Medieval pilgrimage was the Way of Saint James, where pilgrims traveled from areas throughout Europe to visit the grave of St. James in Santiago, Spain.

Lightofthedarkages.com is not a presentation of works along a particular Medieval Pilgrimage route but a Pilgrimage through time. The site presents a journey that begins in Early-Christian Byzantium and completes its path in Padua with the works of Giotto, the Father of Renaissance painting. The Arena Chapel in Padua is a fitting end to more than a thousand years of significant artistic and architectural development. Giotto’s work should not be considered the end of one journey or the beginning of another but the continuation of a path forward.