Images of the self: medieval funerary monuments with effigy (13th-15th centuries) – EFFIGY

Although the emergence of the individual in the West has often been associated with modernity, recent research shows that the last centuries of the Middle Ages played a fundamental role in this process. The EFFIGY project intends to contribute to this debate by examining the reappearance of the representation of the deceased on tombs, either engraved or sculpted. It will therefore attempt to shed light on the markers and factors of a display of the individual by examining a complex field of the elites’ artistic commissioning, at the crossroads between individual and collective representation, between temporal and eschatological issues. The EFFIGY project proposes to carry out a systematic study of nearly 500 effigial tombs produced between the 13th and 15th centuries in three key French regions: Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Pays de la Loire and Brittany. This geographical area is distinguished by the importance of the heritage preserved and by the presence during the Middle Ages of various religious and secular elites, which guarantees a complete and accurate approach to the phenomenon. The tombs will be studied in an interdisciplinary way, integrating art history, history of techniques, experimental archaeology, epigraphy, heraldry and archaeometry. The processing of the data as well as the virtual restitution of certain incomplete or dismembered tombs will benefit from the contribution of digital humanities. To meet its objectives, the EFFIGY project combines the expertise and equipment of three partner institutions, renowned for both medieval studies and digital humanities (Ausonius, CESCM and CReAAH-LARA). This consortium will benefit from the expertise of other laboratories from the same universities, specialised in 3D heritage restitution and materials science.