To be held on 17 January 2025
In the language of medieval colour symbolism blue was deemed the most precious of all. It conjured the colour of the sky, and, by extension, the colour of heaven, God’s dwelling place. As a result, lapis lazuli, the precious purple-blue stone, only available from north-eastern Afghanistan was much sought after during the Middles Ages. This lecture explores how the stone was mined and traded vast distances: and then carved into cameos, sometimes inlaid with gold; cut into minute tesserae for micro-mosaics; or ground and refined to make the costly pigment ultramarine, which has been identified in a surprising number of medieval panel paintings, wall paintings, manuscript illumination and sculpture.
Dr Sally Dormer
Sally is a specialist medieval art historian, with an MA in Medieval Art History and PhD on Medieval illuminated manuscripts from The Courtauld Institute of Art, London University. Sally founded the ongoing V&A Late Medieval Europe and Early Renaissance Year Course 1250-1500 in 1993, and in 2009 devised the V&A Early Medieval Year Course 300-800, for which she is now Course Director. She has lectured for Gresham College and The Arts Society. She was, until recently, Dean of European Studies, a study abroad semester, for two universities in Tennessee, USA.