Achim Timmermann | University of Michigan (original) (raw)

Papers by Achim Timmermann

The Baptismal Font Canopy of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich: Studies of a Medieval Monument over Four Centuries, , ed. Amy Gillette and Zachary Stewart (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2023), 288-333., 2023

The Sixteenth Century Journal, 2021

At the heart of this article are two eyewitness accounts of the religious life of pre-Reformation... more At the heart of this article are two eyewitness accounts of the religious life of pre-Reformation Biberach an der Riß in Upper Swabia. Written between ca. 1531 and 1545 by two brothers who had remained Roman Catholic while their home city had converted to Protestantism, the two reports provide a virtually unparalleled glimpse into the material and visual culture of a small Imperial Free City on the eve of the Protestant Reformation. So far, the two narratives have been primarily mined for their portrayal of religious customs taking place within the city walls. Almost no attention has been paid to the fact that the two accounts chart the richly textured sacred landscape that unfolded in every direction in the peri-urban spaces just outside the town walls. Rather than looking at the pre-Reformation city from within, this article considers the late medieval urban space from the outside .

Enshrining the Sacred: Microarchitecture in Ritual Spaces, ed. Ilia M. Rodov , 2022

Baltic Journal of Art History, 2013

Jean de Berry’s Croix Couverte at Beaucaire (Gard) in Its Pan-European Architectural-Cultural Contexts, 2021

This contribution explores a remarkable but very much understudied late medieval roadside monumen... more This contribution explores a remarkable but very much understudied late medieval roadside monument, the so-called Croix Couverte near Beaucaire in the eastern Languedoc. not only is it one of the earliest extant structures erected in the novel Flamboyant Gothic style, it can also be conclusively linked to the patronage of Jean de Valois, Duke of Berry from 1360, and resident as Lieutenant du Roi at Beaucaire from 1382 to 1384. This study investigates the Croix within several rings of inquiry, which gradually widen as the discussion proceeds, beginning with its local context, and proceeding with a detailed examination of the monument's place within several architectural traditions (roadside furniture, covered crosses especially; ciboria and honorific baldachins). In order to better comprehend its cutting-edge design, the Croix is then positioned within broader (micro-)architectural trends around 1400, a period often referred to as the age of International Gothic. The final part is devoted to some of the architecturally themed miniatures in Jean de Berry's famous book of hours, the Très Riches Heures, which reflect and refract many of the broader themes of this study, including the "signing" of landscapes through roadside monuments; the simultaneous control and sanctification of certain locales; and the late medieval fascination with turriform and ciboriform structures in the framing of both the sacred and the political.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2021

This contribution represents an attempt at a first outline of an art history of late medieval shi... more This contribution represents an attempt at a first outline of an art history of late
medieval ship models and their contexts of use. Focusing on the mid-thirteenth through
early sixteenth centuries, an age of rapidly expanding horizons, this study examines the
design and role of miniature vessels at the intersection between devotional practices,
courtly culture, modes of patronage and technological change. It explores three
categories of ship models in particular: ex-voto ships that were presented to a specific
shrine after a miraculous rescue at sea or naval victory; nefs, which served as princely
table decorations and containers of commodities such as salt and spices; and nefs that,
subsequent to their use as banqueting props, were repurposed as devotional vessels
that either contained relics or possibly functioned as ex-votos.

Material Religion, 2021

This article represents the first substantial study of the image of the Kreuzschlepper (cross-dra... more This article represents the first substantial study of the image of the Kreuzschlepper (cross-dragger), a monumental roadside sculpture of Christ carrying his instrument of martyrdom to Mount Calvary only found in the cultural region of Franconia and first introduced to these lands at the end of the seventeenth century. Drawing on a database of more than 300 surviving figures, the study investigates this fascinating imagery from a variety of complementary perspectives (artistic, religious, commemorative, temporal, social-geographical, economic, and phenomenological), sometimes zooming in on individual monuments, sometimes zooming out to develop a statistical angle on the material. Of particular concern is the question of how the image of the Kreuzschlepper was integrated into an already deeply-layered ritual landscape and how it was configured for the presentification and perpetuation of both the memoria of Christ’s Passion (his walk up Mount Calvary in particular) and the memoria of the donors who gifted these figures over several generations. The article is intended not only as a contribution (and corrective) to our understanding of the Franconian Baroque, but also, and perhaps more importantly, as an intervention into the current debate on the making and meaning of sacred places and spaces during the later Middle Ages and the early modern period.

21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual, 2020

This article explores the history, imagery and function of stational cycles of wayside crosses an... more This article explores the history, imagery and function of stational cycles of wayside crosses and oratories deployed to structure the ascent of pilgrims to four mountain sanctuaries in the western Mediterranean (Monserrat in Catalonia; Lluc on the island of Mallorca; Notre-Dame de la Garde at Marseille and the Sainte-Baume, both in Provence). Focusing in particular on the relationship between a chosen sequence of pictorial narratives and their specific geophysical environment, this study is meant as a contribution to both the current debate on the furnishing, lay-out and iconography of the sacred mountain landscapes of premodern Europe and to the nascent field of Mountaineering Culture Studies.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2020

Although not liturgically mandated, the ostentatious microarchitectural font cover became one of ... more Although not liturgically mandated, the ostentatious microarchitectural font cover became one of the most significant ecclesiastical furnishings of the later Middle Ages. In fact, as a church fixture it survived well into the seventeenth century, not only in Catholic but also in Protestant regions, even though its eye-catching forms represented an obvious target for radical reformers and iconoclasts. Despite their enduring presence and their obvious importance to the communities that erected them, font covers remain little researched and understood. Revolving around a discussion of their intensely visual nature, this article is an attempt at a first outline of a history of this fascinating genre of church furnishing.

Baltic Journal of Art History, 2019

Revolving around the image of the Ship of the Church (navis ecclesiae), this article explores the... more Revolving around the image of the Ship of the Church (navis ecclesiae), this article explores the making of visual allegory in the century between the end of the Great Schism (1378–1417) and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation (1517 ff.). Of particular interest here are those images in which the crucifix has been grafted onto the mast and sail-yard of a ship (antenna crucifixi). The material is placed in conversation with contemporary trends in the crafting of complex allegories and new developments in both ship design (most notably the introduction of the carrack into northern European waters) and the visual representation of ships. The focus is mostly on the German-speaking sphere, though select images originating in the Italian peninsula are also taken into consideration.

Umĕní, 47 , 1999

Achim Timmermann) Princeton University DVA PARLEROVSKE SANKTUARE V MIKROARCHITEKTONICKEM KONTEX-T... more Achim Timmermann) Princeton University DVA PARLEROVSKE SANKTUARE V MIKROARCHITEKTONICKEM KONTEX-TU. (Janek se zabjvd ranjm obdobim stfedoevropskeho sanktudfe, jednoho z mnoha ume-leckjch a liturgickjch projevu sz1ici vizualizace pozdne stfedoveke eucharisticke zboi.nosti. Zamefuje se pfedevfim na dve dz1a, kterd vznikla v umeleckem prostfedi Petra Parlefe a jeho okruhu-na taberndkl v kostele sv. Bartolomeje v Koline nad Labem (mezi lety 1360 ai. 1378) ave sv. Sebaldu v Norimberku (mezi lety 1361 ai. 1379). Architektura obou praci je analyzovdna z hlediska jejich hlavni funkce, totii. bjt stdnkem eucharistie, sloui.it jeji oslave a zobrazit tajemstvi transsubstanciace. Ukazuje se, i.e tyto dva sanktudfe jsou pNkladem odlisnjch pfistupu k vjtvarnemu ucteni svdtosti. Autor kolinskeho taberndklu se rozhodl pro ciste architektonicki, ale pfitom vjtvarne celistve a pfitai.live fe5eni, ktere se blii.i soucasnjm ndvrhUm arkjfu a baldachjnu. Naproti tomu v Norimberku se objevuje taberndkl v podobe miniaturizovaneho pficneho fezu pltilodni bazilikou, s bohatjm sochafskjm programem, rozvri.enjm podle semanticke hierarchie; v do be jeho vzniku byl jii. bazilikdlni fez jakjmsi mikroarchitektonickjm topos a poui.ival se pfi ruznjch vjtvarnjch ukolech ke zduraznfni vjznamu obrazu, ostatku nebo svdtosti (napf. na ndhrobcich, pdetich, monstrancich). Cld-nek konci krdtkou diskusi o ,,i.ivotnosti" obou fe5eni. Zatimco sanktudf ve sv. Sebaldu zustal v podstate soliterem (s vjjimkou nekolika mistnich ohlasu), kolinskd prices polygondlni zd-kladnou a prolamovanjm jehlanem pfedznamenala diskurs o eucharisticke mikroarchitek-tufe v 15. a 16. stoleti, v nemi. byly nekolikastupnove jehlany ve forme opernjch pilifu vybrd-ny jako nejvhodnejSi schrdnka eucharistie.

Arte Medievale, n. s., 4/1, 2005

Faszination Stadt. Die Urbanisierung Europas im Mittelalter und das Magdeburger Recht, exh. cat., ed. Christina Link, 2019

The Baptismal Font Canopy of St Peter Mancroft, Norwich: Studies of a Medieval Monument over Four Centuries, , ed. Amy Gillette and Zachary Stewart (Leiden & Boston: Brill, 2023), 288-333., 2023

The Sixteenth Century Journal, 2021

At the heart of this article are two eyewitness accounts of the religious life of pre-Reformation... more At the heart of this article are two eyewitness accounts of the religious life of pre-Reformation Biberach an der Riß in Upper Swabia. Written between ca. 1531 and 1545 by two brothers who had remained Roman Catholic while their home city had converted to Protestantism, the two reports provide a virtually unparalleled glimpse into the material and visual culture of a small Imperial Free City on the eve of the Protestant Reformation. So far, the two narratives have been primarily mined for their portrayal of religious customs taking place within the city walls. Almost no attention has been paid to the fact that the two accounts chart the richly textured sacred landscape that unfolded in every direction in the peri-urban spaces just outside the town walls. Rather than looking at the pre-Reformation city from within, this article considers the late medieval urban space from the outside .

Enshrining the Sacred: Microarchitecture in Ritual Spaces, ed. Ilia M. Rodov , 2022

Baltic Journal of Art History, 2013

Jean de Berry’s Croix Couverte at Beaucaire (Gard) in Its Pan-European Architectural-Cultural Contexts, 2021

This contribution explores a remarkable but very much understudied late medieval roadside monumen... more This contribution explores a remarkable but very much understudied late medieval roadside monument, the so-called Croix Couverte near Beaucaire in the eastern Languedoc. not only is it one of the earliest extant structures erected in the novel Flamboyant Gothic style, it can also be conclusively linked to the patronage of Jean de Valois, Duke of Berry from 1360, and resident as Lieutenant du Roi at Beaucaire from 1382 to 1384. This study investigates the Croix within several rings of inquiry, which gradually widen as the discussion proceeds, beginning with its local context, and proceeding with a detailed examination of the monument's place within several architectural traditions (roadside furniture, covered crosses especially; ciboria and honorific baldachins). In order to better comprehend its cutting-edge design, the Croix is then positioned within broader (micro-)architectural trends around 1400, a period often referred to as the age of International Gothic. The final part is devoted to some of the architecturally themed miniatures in Jean de Berry's famous book of hours, the Très Riches Heures, which reflect and refract many of the broader themes of this study, including the "signing" of landscapes through roadside monuments; the simultaneous control and sanctification of certain locales; and the late medieval fascination with turriform and ciboriform structures in the framing of both the sacred and the political.

International Journal of Maritime History, 2021

This contribution represents an attempt at a first outline of an art history of late medieval shi... more This contribution represents an attempt at a first outline of an art history of late
medieval ship models and their contexts of use. Focusing on the mid-thirteenth through
early sixteenth centuries, an age of rapidly expanding horizons, this study examines the
design and role of miniature vessels at the intersection between devotional practices,
courtly culture, modes of patronage and technological change. It explores three
categories of ship models in particular: ex-voto ships that were presented to a specific
shrine after a miraculous rescue at sea or naval victory; nefs, which served as princely
table decorations and containers of commodities such as salt and spices; and nefs that,
subsequent to their use as banqueting props, were repurposed as devotional vessels
that either contained relics or possibly functioned as ex-votos.

Material Religion, 2021

This article represents the first substantial study of the image of the Kreuzschlepper (cross-dra... more This article represents the first substantial study of the image of the Kreuzschlepper (cross-dragger), a monumental roadside sculpture of Christ carrying his instrument of martyrdom to Mount Calvary only found in the cultural region of Franconia and first introduced to these lands at the end of the seventeenth century. Drawing on a database of more than 300 surviving figures, the study investigates this fascinating imagery from a variety of complementary perspectives (artistic, religious, commemorative, temporal, social-geographical, economic, and phenomenological), sometimes zooming in on individual monuments, sometimes zooming out to develop a statistical angle on the material. Of particular concern is the question of how the image of the Kreuzschlepper was integrated into an already deeply-layered ritual landscape and how it was configured for the presentification and perpetuation of both the memoria of Christ’s Passion (his walk up Mount Calvary in particular) and the memoria of the donors who gifted these figures over several generations. The article is intended not only as a contribution (and corrective) to our understanding of the Franconian Baroque, but also, and perhaps more importantly, as an intervention into the current debate on the making and meaning of sacred places and spaces during the later Middle Ages and the early modern period.

21: Inquiries into Art, History, and the Visual, 2020

This article explores the history, imagery and function of stational cycles of wayside crosses an... more This article explores the history, imagery and function of stational cycles of wayside crosses and oratories deployed to structure the ascent of pilgrims to four mountain sanctuaries in the western Mediterranean (Monserrat in Catalonia; Lluc on the island of Mallorca; Notre-Dame de la Garde at Marseille and the Sainte-Baume, both in Provence). Focusing in particular on the relationship between a chosen sequence of pictorial narratives and their specific geophysical environment, this study is meant as a contribution to both the current debate on the furnishing, lay-out and iconography of the sacred mountain landscapes of premodern Europe and to the nascent field of Mountaineering Culture Studies.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2020

Although not liturgically mandated, the ostentatious microarchitectural font cover became one of ... more Although not liturgically mandated, the ostentatious microarchitectural font cover became one of the most significant ecclesiastical furnishings of the later Middle Ages. In fact, as a church fixture it survived well into the seventeenth century, not only in Catholic but also in Protestant regions, even though its eye-catching forms represented an obvious target for radical reformers and iconoclasts. Despite their enduring presence and their obvious importance to the communities that erected them, font covers remain little researched and understood. Revolving around a discussion of their intensely visual nature, this article is an attempt at a first outline of a history of this fascinating genre of church furnishing.

Baltic Journal of Art History, 2019

Revolving around the image of the Ship of the Church (navis ecclesiae), this article explores the... more Revolving around the image of the Ship of the Church (navis ecclesiae), this article explores the making of visual allegory in the century between the end of the Great Schism (1378–1417) and the beginning of the Protestant Reformation (1517 ff.). Of particular interest here are those images in which the crucifix has been grafted onto the mast and sail-yard of a ship (antenna crucifixi). The material is placed in conversation with contemporary trends in the crafting of complex allegories and new developments in both ship design (most notably the introduction of the carrack into northern European waters) and the visual representation of ships. The focus is mostly on the German-speaking sphere, though select images originating in the Italian peninsula are also taken into consideration.

Umĕní, 47 , 1999

Achim Timmermann) Princeton University DVA PARLEROVSKE SANKTUARE V MIKROARCHITEKTONICKEM KONTEX-T... more Achim Timmermann) Princeton University DVA PARLEROVSKE SANKTUARE V MIKROARCHITEKTONICKEM KONTEX-TU. (Janek se zabjvd ranjm obdobim stfedoevropskeho sanktudfe, jednoho z mnoha ume-leckjch a liturgickjch projevu sz1ici vizualizace pozdne stfedoveke eucharisticke zboi.nosti. Zamefuje se pfedevfim na dve dz1a, kterd vznikla v umeleckem prostfedi Petra Parlefe a jeho okruhu-na taberndkl v kostele sv. Bartolomeje v Koline nad Labem (mezi lety 1360 ai. 1378) ave sv. Sebaldu v Norimberku (mezi lety 1361 ai. 1379). Architektura obou praci je analyzovdna z hlediska jejich hlavni funkce, totii. bjt stdnkem eucharistie, sloui.it jeji oslave a zobrazit tajemstvi transsubstanciace. Ukazuje se, i.e tyto dva sanktudfe jsou pNkladem odlisnjch pfistupu k vjtvarnemu ucteni svdtosti. Autor kolinskeho taberndklu se rozhodl pro ciste architektonicki, ale pfitom vjtvarne celistve a pfitai.live fe5eni, ktere se blii.i soucasnjm ndvrhUm arkjfu a baldachjnu. Naproti tomu v Norimberku se objevuje taberndkl v podobe miniaturizovaneho pficneho fezu pltilodni bazilikou, s bohatjm sochafskjm programem, rozvri.enjm podle semanticke hierarchie; v do be jeho vzniku byl jii. bazilikdlni fez jakjmsi mikroarchitektonickjm topos a poui.ival se pfi ruznjch vjtvarnjch ukolech ke zduraznfni vjznamu obrazu, ostatku nebo svdtosti (napf. na ndhrobcich, pdetich, monstrancich). Cld-nek konci krdtkou diskusi o ,,i.ivotnosti" obou fe5eni. Zatimco sanktudf ve sv. Sebaldu zustal v podstate soliterem (s vjjimkou nekolika mistnich ohlasu), kolinskd prices polygondlni zd-kladnou a prolamovanjm jehlanem pfedznamenala diskurs o eucharisticke mikroarchitek-tufe v 15. a 16. stoleti, v nemi. byly nekolikastupnove jehlany ve forme opernjch pilifu vybrd-ny jako nejvhodnejSi schrdnka eucharistie.

Arte Medievale, n. s., 4/1, 2005

Faszination Stadt. Die Urbanisierung Europas im Mittelalter und das Magdeburger Recht, exh. cat., ed. Christina Link, 2019

The Cambridge History of Religious Architecture of the World, 2020

Over the past two decades a plethora of scholarship has been published on the replication of Jeru... more Over the past two decades a plethora of scholarship has been published on the replication of Jerusalem and other Holy Land places in the physical landscapes of late medieval and early modern Europe. Much of this research is concerned with questions surrounding the process of implementation of such topographical “translations”, their urban and monastic patronage, and their roles in rituals of “virtual pilgrimage.” Despite its conceptually quite rich nature, a good portion of the debate has been limited insofar as it has predominantly tended to focus on the Sacri Monti of northern Italy.

Our volume of essays, written by an international group of scholars, builds on and expands from this state of research. Whereas seven of the contributions will indeed investigate the Sacri Monti and comparable such ensembles in Lombardy and the Piedmont, the other nine essays will take readers to important, but now lesser known sites in the Adriatic, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Poland, France, Spain, and Mexico. While Passion Parks intended in one way or another to reproduce the places and spaces of Christ’s sufferings are the overall focus of this volume, “Sacri Monti and Beyond” will also feature contributions exploring literary productions such as Holy Land simulacra guidebooks; late Gothic architectural developments intended to evoke the skyline of a Christo-Islamic Jerusalem; topographies, both actual and imagined, associated with Marian devotion and its sequential choreography; as well as Muslim divine simulacra in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Andalusia. Apart from their wide geographical and thematic coverage, the essays also offer new and more diverse conceptual approaches to the various types of simulacra under discussion, covering topics such as claims and chains of authenticity; topomimesis and hierophanization; anachronisms and anatopisms; and a wide variety of viewer experiences, somaesthetic and otherwise.

(In progress)