Medieval Master Craftsmen: tracing the lives of artists before the Renaissance

We think of the Italian Renaissance as the birthplace of the individual ‘artist’, but the rise of the artist arguably begins in 12th century Europe, with the rise of the great Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, and the explosion of luxury manuscript production. We investigate the few medieval master-craftsmen we know by name: from French sculptor Giselbertus who chiselled his name into Autun’s west façade in 1115, to the architects commemorated in the labyrinth pavement of Reims Cathedral, and the near-celebrity status of illuminator Jean Pucelle. Supported by readings from medieval texts celebrating technical knowledge for the first time, we’ll challenge the myth of Renaissance exceptionalism. Were the seeds of that movement planted north of the Alps?