Digital Methods and the Possibilities of Approaching Medieval Art from the Exhibition Thomas Becket Murder and the Making of a Saint

Abstract

Between May and August 2021, the British Museum promoted the exhibition Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint, with the aim of marking the eight hundred and fifty years of the brutal assassination of the Archbishop of Canterbury (1128-1170). The exhibition featured several objects related to his life and death, in a thematic arc that addresses everything from the cult of the saint – canonized in 1173 – to the idea of “traitor” in the eyes of Henry VIII. In this article, I will try to address how the catalogue, the exhibition website, the videos specially prepared by the curators and made available on Youtube, the 3D reconstruction projects, and some university repositories are configured as digital methods that can help to bring together and raise awareness of the arts elaborated in pre-modern societies. Thinking about art and art history from digital methods can become a tool for the expansion of art studies in Brazil.