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Home > Faculty > Full-time Faculty > Erik Thunø Associate Professor and Undergraduate Director Medieval Art Ph.D, Johns Hopkins, 1999 Biographical Information: Professor Thunø’s research area focuses on medieval Italy from Constantine the Great to the early modern period. His most recent publications are concerned with the medieval perception of the image by addressing such topics as the cult of relics, materiality, and the interaction between image and word. Other interests are Roman painting in the thirteenth century and late medieval miracle-working images in Italy during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. His current research concentrates on medieval apse mosaics. Recent Publications: Books: Decorating the Lord’s Table. On the Dynamics between Image and Altar in the Middle Ages, ed. Søren Kaspersen and Erik Thunø (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006) Image and Relic. Mediating the Sacred in Early Medieval Rome, Rome: l’Erma di Bretschneider, 2002 The Miraculous Image in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. E. Thunø and G. Wolf, Rome: l’Erma di Bretschneider, 2004 Articles: “Looking at Letters. ‘Living Writing’ in S. Sabina in Rome,” Marburger Jahrbuch für Kunstwissenschaft 34 (2007): 19-41. “The Golden Altar of St. Ambrose in Milan: Image and Materiality,” in Decorating the Lord’s Table. On the Dynamics between Image and Altar in the Middle Ages, ed. Søren Kaspersen and Erik Thunø (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006), 63-79 "Materializing the Invisible in Early Medieval Art: The Mosaic of Santa Maria in Domnica in Rome," in Seeing the Invisible in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, ed. Giselle de Nie et al., Turnhout: Brepols, 2005 “The Miraculous Image and the Centralized Church. Santa Maria della Consolazione in Todi,“ in The Miraculous Image in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. E. Thunø and G. Wolf, Rome: l’Erma di Bretschneider, 2004, 29-57 “The Cult of the Virgin, Icons and Relics in Early Medieval Rome. A Semiotic Approach,” Acta ad Archaeologiam et Artium Historiam Pertinentia 17 (2004): 79-98 “Decus suus splendet ceu Phoebus in orbe. Zum Verhältnins von Text und Bild in der Apsis von Santa Maria in Domnica in Rom,” in Die Sprache der Bilder. Zur Korrelation und Kontradiktion von Text und Bild im Wirkungskreis der Bibel, ed. B. Janowski and N. Zchomelidse, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2003, 147-164 “Some Remarks on the Sta. Barbara Chapel at Ss. Quattro Coronati in Rome” Arte Medievale 10, 2 (1996): 15-22 “ The Facade Mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome” Analecta Romana Instituti Danici 23 (1996): 61-82 Reviews: CAA On-line Reviews (August 2007): Anne-Orange Poilpré, Maiestas Domini: Une image de l’Église en Occident (Ve–IXe siècle), Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 2005 Alessandro Tomei: Pietro Cavallini, Milano: Silvana, 2000 in Journal für Kunstgeschichte 5, 4 (2001): 309-31 Fellowships: Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Clark Art Institute Carlsberg Foundation Danish Research Council of the Humanities Danish Research Academy Queen Ingrid Foundation for Roman Studies at the Danish Academy in Rome Fulbright Commission Johns Hopkins University Villa Spelman, Florence (Johns Hopkins University) Activities: Member of Nominating Committee, International Center of Medieval Art, 2009-2010 Session chair at the international conference: "Interactions. Artistic Interchange between the Eastern and Western Worlds in the Medieval Period," Princeton Index of Christian Art, Princeton University, 8-9 April 2005. Organized with Gerhard Wolf the international conference L’immagine miracolosa nella cultura tardomedievale e rinascimentale as a collaboration between the Danish Academy and The Bibliotheca Hertziana (Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte) in Rome, 31 May - 2 June 2002 Organized and chaired with Søren Kaspersen the double-session Image and Altar: Interrelationships at the 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, 3-6 May 2001 Member of editorial board of Analecta Romana Instituti Danici and co-editor of the volumes 27-30 (2000-2004) Lectures: “The Early Medieval Apse Mosaic. Observations on Liturgy and Reception,” at the Delaware Valley Medieval Association’s annual meeting, hosted by Medieval Studies at Princeton University, December 2008 “Inscriptions on Light and Splendor. From Saint Denis to Rome and Back,” Inscriptions in Liturgical Spaces, Norwegian Academy in Rome, November 2008 “Church Unity and the Reciprocal Gaze. Considerations on Some Early Medieval Apse Mosaics,” Bibliotheca Hertziana, Rome, April 2008 “ From Holy Fragment to Material Artifact and Back. On Relic and Image in Early Medieval Visual Culture,” /The Interrelationship of Relics and Images in Christian and Buddhist Culture/, University of Tokyo, December 2007 “The Implied Viewer. The Case of Ss. Cosmas and Damian in Rome,” Claremont Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, May 2007, Kalamazoo MI “Text Image and Time in some Early Christian Mosaics,” Visual Representation and Cultural History Seminar, Harvard University, April 2006 “The Word made Flesh. Text as Image in Early Christian Rome,” Tensions between Image and Text in Medieval Art, College Art Association, Boston, February 2006 “From Neglect to Sacred Space. The Discovery and Institutionalization of the Miracle-Working Image of the Early Modern Period,” The Sacred and Idolized Image, 28th International Colloquium of Art History, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, Campeche, 24-29 October 2004 “Transgressing the Sanctioned Space: The City Moves Closer to God,” Sites et territoires de l’histoire de l’art, 31e Congrès du Comité international d’histoire de l’art (CIHA), Montreal, August 2004 “The Miraculous Image in the Italian Renaissance,” Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, March 2004 “Materializing the Invisible in Ealy Medieval Rome: The Case of S. Maria in Domnica,” Verbal and Pictorial Imaging. Representing and Accessing Experience of the Invisible 400-1000, University of Utrecht, December 2003 “The Enamelled Cross from the Sancta Sanctorum: Material and Iconography,” History of Enamel from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance, The Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities, The British Museum, London, November 1999 “Image and Intercession: The Apse Mosaic of Sta. Maria in Domnica,” Bilder in Texten - Texte in Bildern. Zur Korrelation und Kontradiktion von Text und Bild im Wirkungskreis der Bibel, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, October 1999 “A Monumental Reliquary: Santa Prassede in Rome,” 33rd International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, May 1998

Contact:
    Phone: 732-932-7041 Ext.24
    Email Dr. Thunø

Office Hours:

Wednesdays 1-3 pm By Appointment

Current Interests & Research:

·	Medieval art in Italy
·	Carolingian art
·	Cult images in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
·	Byzantine art

Undergraduate Classes Taught:

·	Carolingian art
·	Early Medieval art
·	Medieval art
·	Romanesque and Gothic Art
·	The Imagery and Achitecture of Medieval Rome
·	Rome Summer Abroad
·	The Icon

Graduate Classes Taught:

·	Narrative cycles in the Middle Ages
·	The Mosaics of Medieval Rome: New Approaches
·	The Medieval Image. Concepts and Theories
·	Text and Image in Early Medieval Art
·	Methods of Art History

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