Annual Art History lecture announced

The 15^th-century foundations of French painting are the focus of the annual art history lecture, to be presented at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, by Jennifer Courts, visiting assistant professor of art history. Titled “Paint, Possessions, and Polity: 15^th-Century Foundations of French Painting,” the lecture will be in Davis Auditorium, Palamountain Hall.

According to Courts, France’s position in the development of 15^th-century oil painting is often overlooked for many reasons, foremost of which is the national economic and emotional toll of the Hundred Years War. Her lecture will focus on the unique ability of oil painting to recreate the people, places, and objects of the material world. Courts will use the Crucifxion of the Parlement de Paris (1449-53; Paris: Louvre) to explore the political environment of Paris circa 1450, when the city was in the middle of rebuilding its economy and relationship with the king in the wake of the Hundred Years War.

A graduate of Florida State University (FSU), where she earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, Courts has completed two manuscripts on 15^th-century French painting, which is one of her teaching/research specialties. He academic awards include the 2007 Penelope Mason Doctoral Research Award from FSU, and the Student Paper Prize awarded by the Medieval Academy of America in 2010.