On October 18, 2012 there will be held an international colloquium entitled The face of the dead and the early christian world, directed by Ivan Foletti (Lausanne-Brno). The theme chosen for this meeting is the study of funerary images in the transition between late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The central question will a reflection on the function of the funerary images in a broad sense, but also their impact on the early christian world. The choice of the chronological time also shows the second intention of the colloquium: this is an attempt to explain why the ancient funerary tradition of the image will eventually disappear, replaced by other figures of the representative functions. Through various media - from the mosaic and painting, through sculpture and ending with gilded glasses - there will be presented one of the nodal representation of the self: the human face on the border between life and death.

Program:

• 10:00 Ivan Foletti, Masaryk University of Brno and University of Lausanne
  • Fyziognomický obraz jako nástroj rétoriky: "portréty" v San Vittore in Ciel d'oro v Miláně a v San Paolo Fuori le Mura v Římě / Physiognomic representations as a rhetoric instrument: “portraits” in San Vittore in Ciel d’oro and San Paolo fuori le mura
• 10:45 Chiara Croci, University of Münster and University of Lausanne  
  • Portraiture on early christian gold-glasses: some observation.
• 11:30 Stefano D’Ovidio, University of Naples "Federico II"
  • Devotion and memory: episcopal portraits in the Cripta dei vescovi in Naples
• 14:00 Nicolas Bock, University of Lausanne
  • Pictura tacens in pariete loqui. Poetic competition and Early Christian portraiture around 400
• 14:45 Valentina Cantone, University of Padova
  • The syncretic portrait. Visual contaminations in Early Christian Art
• 15:30 Ladislav Kesner, Masaryk University of Brno
• Tvář a smrt v ranné Číně / Face and Death in Early China

Venue:

• Moravian Gallery: lecture hall of Museum of Applies Arts, Husova 14

Organized by

• Department of the History of Art (FA)
• Moravian Gallery in Brno

Responsibility:

• Ivan Foletti, M.A., PhD. (Université Lausanne)