New Images of the Middle Ages

In recent years, in Languedoc-Roussillon, painted ceilings have been regularly rediscovered in old medieval houses. These paintings, dating from the late Middle Ages, are mainly found in buildings belonging to the ecclesiastical or aristocratic elite, and rich merchants. Historians Monique Bourin and Pierre-Olivier Dittmar unveil the meaning and social function of these images in the medieval home world. For the sponsor, these images, as close depictions of the values and interests in everyday life, represent a way of self-promotion of oneself in one's usual living environment, but they also call out to all those who enter these decorated rooms, as a kind of ancestors of Facebook wall. For a long time, and despite the talent of many painters, this type of art was little studied because it was belittled in comparison to high profile painting. In the years 1990-2000, it was revived when anthropology began to take an interest in so-called popular images.