Panizzi Lecture – Maps of the Mind: Diagrams Medieval and Modern
Channel: British Library
Date: 2022-12-06

This event took place on the 24 of October 2022. The information below is correct as of the publication date.

The first of the three lectures by Jeffrey F. Hamburger on diagrams in medieval art and thought.

By definition, diagrams transcend boundaries. They represent an unusual class of images in so far as their delineations extend to include lettering, even full-blown text. They also simultaneously serve theoretical, demonstrative, and instrumental functions.

Diagrams both reproduce and generate maps of the mind. To what extent can modern understandings of diagrammatic procedures inform inquiry into historical diagrammatic practices, and vice versa? This lecture addresses this and related questions through a series of examples ranging from the Middle Ages to the present.

The Panizzi Lecture series 2022 is given by Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture, Harvard University.

2022 Series Introduction – Drawing Conclusions: Diagrams in Medieval Art and Thought
Diagrams constitute an omnipresent feature of medieval art and thought. From Antiquity onwards, the forms and procedures of geometric reasoning held a privileged place in the pursuit of truth, the understanding of which remained closely linked to ideals of beauty and perfection.Drawing on the collections of the British Library, whose holdings provide virtually comprehensive coverage of all ramifications of the diagrammatic tradition, this series of lectures examines the practical, theoretical and aesthetic dimensions of medieval diagrams as matrices of meaning and patterns of thought informing diverse areas of medieval culture.

Jeffrey F. Hamburger's research focuses on the art of the High and later Middle Ages. He is the Kuno Francke Professor of German Art & Culture at Harvard University. Beginning with his dissertation on the Rothschild Canticles (Yale, 1987), his scholarship has focused on the art of female monasticism, culminating in an international exhibition Krone und Schleier (Crown and Veil), 2005. Professor Hamburger holds a B.A. and Ph.D. in Art History from Yale University. He previously held teaching positions at Oberlin College, University of Toronto and has been a guest professor in Zurich, Paris, Oxford and Fribourg.

Thanks to the kind support of Jonathan A. Hill booksellers we are now able offer an online stream of the Panizzi lectures for free.

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