The impact of medieval drama on medieval Christian iconography

Medieval artists illustrating stories from the Bible and the Lives of the Saints drew their inspiration from many sources. One of the more surprising was contemporary drama, whether it was performed in the church or the city square. The setting and props of the plays were reproduced in paintings and sculpture, and in later examples scenes were illustrated which had no literary source but the plays. This lecture will look at some of the most notable examples dating from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries, which illustrate the influence of the stage on art.