Evan A. Gatti, assistant professor of art history, presented “From Aquileia to Aosta: An Art of Northern Italy or Bishops at the Borders” at the 47th International Medieval Congress in Kalamazoo, Mich., on May 10.
Gatti argues that the area of northern Italy, around the year 1000, should be investigated as a “borderland” that shares similar political, ecclesiastical and social uncertainties. The uncertainties require careful negotiation, often by the bishops and archbishops selected to serve these areas. Similarly, the art commissioned by these bishops and archbishops, and especially the public fresco programs that decorate the walls of the cathedrals, negotiate competing influences, institutions, and suggest shifting, or at least flexible, alliances. The paper is part of a larger book project and is the subject of Gatti’s upcoming sabbatical.
While at the International Medieval Congress Gatti was elected to a five-year term as secretary of EPISCOPUS: The Society for the Study of Bishops and Secular Clergy in the Middle Ages.