Robert Branner Forum for Medieval Art

Robert Branner (1927-1973) was an art historian specializing in Gothic architecture and manuscript illumination. Active as an excavator, he made important discoveries in the chronology and style of French cathedrals, incorporating cultural historical tools into the method of design analysis that had more traditionally dominated architectural history.

Branner is remembered through the Robert Branner Forum, a student-run symposium sponsoring lectures several times a year that are open to the public. The Forum originated as a series of visiting lectures organized by Branner's graduate students immediately after his death during the academic year as a way of continuing his courses. It has been supported by his family since that time.

All events take place in Schermerhorn Hall, room 612.

Fall 2019 – Spring 2020

Jerrilynn Dodds (Sarah Lawrence College),
“The Virgin as Colonial Agent: Fashioning the Subaltern in the Cantigas de Santa Maria"
February 27, 6:30pm
Schermerhorn 807

Christina Maranci (Tufts University)
"They Have Been Watching You All This Time: Newly Discovered Wall Paintings in Ani"
March 5, 6:30pm
Schermerhorn 612

Jennifer Ball (Graduate Center, City University of New York) and Thelma Thomas (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University)
“Collaborative Research on Byzantine Silk: Two-Case Studies from Aachen”
Tuesday, April 7, 6:30pm
Schermerhorn 612

Fall 2018 – Spring 2019

Fall 2017 – Spring 2018

Fall 2016 – Spring 2017

Fall 2015 – Spring 2016

Fall 2014 – Spring 2015

Fall 2012 – Spring 2013

Fall 2011 – Spring 2012

Fall 2010 – Spring 2011

Fall 2009 – Spring 2010