080086 SE Early Modern Armor as "second skin", Sculpture of Steel and Heroic Object (2023W)

Against the backdrop of the current political situation in Europe, the question of the "aesthetics of war" and the permissible or even appropriate heroisation of soldiers has taken on new relevance. While armour has long been the subject of a somewhat dusty antiquarian-military-historical interest, it has recently been rediscovered in the context of current body discourses and agency theories (esp. Gell 1993 and 1998). In this context, in which the skin is understood as a liminal zone, body-related things as prostheses or "externalised" organs, a new interest in early modern armour can also be detected. This is because it affects the body of the wearer, for example through its dual defensive protective function (physical and apotropaic) or through its properties that modify the body's movements, as well as through its identity-transforming potential in transcribing the body externally (Stoichita 2017, Koos 2021).

The seminar will therefore address various approaches to interpreting armour as a "heroic object" (Posselt-Kuhli 2016): Starting from the concept of spiritual chivalry prevalent throughout the Middle Ages, via the depictions of Italian condottieri in painting and equestrian statuary as well as Renaissance portraits showing rulers and warlords in armour. The strong affinity between armour and sculpture or armour and portrait, respectively, will be particularly discussed. Thus, the steel shell as an indestructible negative form of the body can become a "hollow sculpture" of a deceased person, for example, or transform the living ruler into a reincarnation of the ancient hero. In addition to re-perspectivising well-known masterpieces of Italian art, the seminar will thus also analyse exhibits of the KHM that are available on site.

In the seminar, students will gain an initial insight into current research debates on corporeality and masculinity, as well as become familiar with central concepts and selected source texts of the field of meaning of "chivalry" from the late Middle Ages to around 1600 through the special focus on "armour". In doing so, they will practise performance- and agency-oriented access to works, concise descriptions of images and objects and the reconstruction and evaluation of the respective context of the work. Through presentations, seminar discussions and a small audio contribution, different forms of presentation of one's own academic results will also be explored.

Language skills of English, Italian and, to a lesser degree, French are required.