Louvre Curator Jannic Durand Speaks at Peeler Center Monday

October 8, 2008

October 8, 2008, Greencastle, Ind. - Jannic Durand, the curator of Medieval art at the Louvre in Paris, France, will visit the DePauw University campus on Monday, October 13. Dr. Durand will discuss "Saints in Boxes: Relics and Reliquaries in the Middle Ages" in a 7 p.m. lecture in the auditorium of the Richard E. Peeler Art Center. The public is invited to attend this free event.

"DePauw was chosen to host Dr. Durand by the International Center of Medieval Art, based in New York," notes Anne F. Harris, associate professor of art history and chair of the art department. "After visiting our campus, he will travel to the University of Michigan and the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York. Dr. Durand is a fascinating scholar who handles and shelters some of the world's most unusual and precious artifacts on a daily basis (medieval reliquaries housed such holy remains as the tears of the Virgin Mary, the umbilical cord of Christ, and the arm that Saint Luke used to paint his portrait of the Virgin and Child). We're thrilled to present this program to the DePauw community."

Durand's field of expertise is Byzantine art, with a concentration on reliquaries: those opulent, compelling containers of the remains of holy figures. His research examines these fascinating objects both in their historical context and in their medieval "afterlife," as they are used and understood in the modern era as relics of a lost past. Dr. Durand's role as curator of medieval art at the Louvre also entails oversight of the Department d'Objets d'Art, the Louvre's collection of art objects, such as reliquaries.

You may explore some of the holdings of this brilliant collection by clicking here.

Visit the Peeler Art Center online.

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