Gaps in Origins
How has life begun, how was the world created, and what lied at the origin of the creation? Human procreation, especially the origin of life, was frequently the subject of speculation and analysis in medieval thought. Drawings of the uterus accompanied and supported these reflections about the development of life in female bodies. These were made by anonymous draughtsmen and illustrators of medieval manuscripts as well as known scholars and artists like Hildegard von Bingen, Opicinus di Canistris, Jerome Bosch, and Leonardo da Vinci. Analysing the thoughts embedded into these images illuminates the creativity of such connections between divine creation, human procreation and artistic creativity ignited through an exploration of the unknown and the unseen.
Date: 19 February 2025, 17:00
Venue: St John's College, St Giles OX1 3JP
Venue Details: The Auditorium
Speaker: Professor Beate Fricke (University of Bern)
Organising department: Department of History of Art
Part of: Slade Lectures 2025: Gaps
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=G96VzPWXk0-0uv5ouFLPkfLY1pfbbE1EjMJQlw9BMdxUMUFWWkxTNlY5NEdDM1JVS1JNRUZLSUQ5UC4u
Audience: Public
Editor: Belinda Clark