It is all about Charlemagne

An art history student tackles iconic imagery

Art History student Deb Lustig was recently awarded a 2014 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from Radford University to continue her research on Charlemagne.

Through this fellowship, Lustig has received a SURF grant of $2500 with an additional $500 for a camera to use while she is traveling around Germany and Europe this summer.

In addition to the grant, Lustig presented her research on Charlemagne in April at Longwood University’s undergraduate medieval conference “Meeting in the Middle.”

During “Meeting in the Middle,” she shared her preliminary findings, focusing on objects such as a 14th century reliquary bust of Charlemagne, the chapel of Aachen, the Barbarossa Chandelier, an equestrian statue and a few coins. She used the objects to demonstrate how the physical changes to Charlemagne’s image followed different ideological manipulations of his history in the hands of later sovereigns and officials.

Lustig was originally interested in medieval metalwork and war objects that have been found in hoards, large buried deposits of objects, which spawned her interest in warrior identity and Charlemagne. More specifically, she is now investigating how his visual image was manipulated to suit the whims of others through out history, and that the later images of Charlemagne had absolutely nothing in common with the actual person that existed in 800 CE.

As Lustig states it, “In the end, the image of Charlemagne was like putty that you could stuff into holes to cover up legitimacy and authority problems.”

She was excited to have an opportunity to present at Longwood’s “Meeting in the Middle” conference, and she found the experience well worth it. She says, “Specialized conferences like the one at Longwood tend to draw in serious scholars and I have found that to be one of the greatest benefits of attending these events.”

Lustig owes her opportunity to present at “Meeting in the Middle” to her mentor and art history professor, Dr. Carlee Bradbury, who helped focus her research, provided insight into the various topics of her research and led her through the process of applying to different conferences.

Bradbury, a medievalist, has been training Lustig to refine her concepts of visual methodologies.

“I know these experiences will carry me into graduate level work and I am extremely grateful for [Dr. Bradbury’s] advice and direction,” Lustig states.

The art history major leaves for Germany May 2 to attend an intensive German language program at the Goethe-Institut for three months. This will provide her with 15 transfer credit hours if she passes an exam. During the weekends and in between breaks she will travel to various museums and small towns to see objects and places that show the influence of Charlemagne’s image.

After her German courses are over, she will travel to Aachen, where Charlemagne built his palace, and toward the end of her lengthy trip, Lustig will travel to England and Scotland to tour colleges with graduate programs in art history in hopes to interview a few scholars for her research.

She will also submit her research to Atlanta’s Southeastern Medieval Association Conference 2014 at Clayton State University. She plans to investigate either the Massacre of Verden, in which Charlemagne slaughtered thousands of Saxons or a branch of mythology surrounding the ghost of Charlemagne, in which he rides around killing people in the woods.

Lustig will graduate in December 2014, three semesters early, before moving on to graduate school to pursue her desire to become an art history professor.

Bradbury says, “In the short time I have known Debra she has exhibited superior skills as a student of art history. She is talented for research and is relentless in both her search and analysis of primary and secondary sources…poised and confident, she will be a wonderful ambassador for Radford University.”

To learn more about RU’s art history program, visit http://www.radford.edu/content/cvpa/home/art/programs/undergraduate/history-museum.html.