Conferences & Lectures

CFP: NUN ARTISTS IN EARLY MODERN ITALY
5 October, Biblioteca Domenicana, Florence. Co-sponsored by the Medici Archive Project’s Jane Fortune Research Program on Women Artists and the Biblioteca Domenicana in Santa Maria Novella, this conference highlights new research on artistic production in female monastic communities since the early Renaissance until the Napoleonic suppression. Demolishing older notions of enclosure as an absolute barrier between nuns and the world outside, recent research on social and religious aspects has begun to reinsert the convent within the wider networks of patronage and economic life in the early modern state, and to reposition it within larger civic and ecclesiastical discourses. Presumably this model can also be applied to the study of nun artists. By framing research on nun artists and their activities within broader visions of society and material culture, we hope to arrive at a clearer understanding of the significance of nuns’ artistic production. We welcome papers on a variety of topics regarding convents and their artistic production, from painting, to needlework, to carta pestata sculpture, to ephemera, to manuscript illumination. Suggested topics include but are not limited to: monographic studies on single artists; studies of artistic practice in one or more female religious communities; stylistic analysis and attributions of artworks; studies of the visual culture of nun artists; the role of art in the economic and patronage strategies of monastic communities; the teaching of art in female religious communities; comparisons between nuns’ artistic patronage their artistic production; investigations of the relations and tensions between piety and artistic production historiographic studies of nun artists. Paper presentations, which must feature original research, may be given in Italian or English, and should be no longer than 20 minutes. A publication based on the conference papers is planned. Some support for travel expenses may be available. To apply, please send a one-page abstract and a brief c.v. to Dr. Sheila Barker and Dr. Luciano Cinelli, O.P.  Deadline: Jul 31, 2013.

CFP: LOCAL ANTIQUITIES, LOCAL IDENTITIES: ART, LITERATURE AND ANTIQUARIANISM IN EUROPE BETWEEN THE 14TH AND 17TH CENTURIES
13-14 November 2014, The Warburg Institute, London. Early modern Europe found new fascination in the classical past, but how that past was conceived varied widely. This conference will explore diverse notions of antiquity across Europe in the early modern era, challenging assumptions about a Greco-Roman past and a ‘Renaissance’ that were both universal and monolithic. It is already well known that multiple ‘antiquities’ informed the artistic and literary culture of Rome, Florence and Venice and much recent work has been done on the reception of antiquity in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Our conference will consider how this research has fundamentally changed the perception of European antiquarianism and further explore the reception of the classical past on the local and regional level. European communities considered local antiquities as living testaments to their antique origins, whether real or fictive. They looked not only to Greco-Roman antiquity, but also to the culture of pre-Roman, indigenous populations. Cities and regions shaped their notions of the ‘antique’ not only from a classical heritage but also that of more recent past, as when medieval objects or texts were believed to be ancient or purposely re-fashioned as such. Real or fictive ruins, inscriptions, or literary works could be used to demonstrate a particular idea of the ancient past or as a statement of civic pride. Described in poetry or other texts, antiquities were central to the literary traditions of local communities; works of art and architecture either redeployed spolia of recognizable local provenance or were characterized by a regional concept of the antique. Adopting an interdisciplinary and comparative method, the conference aims to investigate such issues. We seek abstracts for papers that explore local concepts of the antique in the form of archaeological excavations, works of art, architecture, or texts. How were local antiquities used to construct a sense of identity for civic bodies or individuals? How did imported modes of classical revival merge or clash with local idioms? How did local communities respond to or attempt to rival Rome and other heirs to antique traditions? Papers might address issues of competing ‘antiquities’, the character and priorities of local concepts of the antique, or relationships between concepts of antiquity in various regions. They might also consider wider aspects of the local reception of antiquity, such as patterns in myths of origins that recur in different areas of Europe. We would welcome any topic dealing with the impact of local concepts of antiquity in early modern literature, antiquarianism or the visual arts. This 2-day conference organized by Kathleen Christian (The Open University, Department of History of Art) and Bianca de Divitiis (ERC/HistAntArtSI project, University of Naples Federico II) will be held at the Warburg Institute in London on Thursday November 13–Friday November 14, 2014. We expect to fund airfare and three nights accommodation in London for speakers who are unable to request support from their own institutions. We plan to make a video of the conference available online and to publish the proceedings. Please send 350 word abstracts in a Word or PDF attachment to both Kathleen Christian and Bianca de Divitiis. Deadline 31 July.

CFP: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
6-9 March 2014, New College, Sarasota, Florida. The nineteenth biennial New College Conference on Medieval and Renaissance Studies program committee invites 250-word abstracts of proposed twenty-minute papers on topics in European and Mediterranean history, literature, art, music and religion from the fourth to the seventeenth centuries. Interdisciplinary work is particularly appropriate to the conference’s broad historical and disciplinary scope. Planned sessions are welcome; please see the new guidelines. In memory of the conference’s founder Lee Daniel Snyder (1933–2012), we are pleased to announce the establishment of the Snyder Prize, which will be awarded for the first time in 2014. The prize carries an honorarium of $400 and will be given to the best paper presented at the conference by a junior scholar (untenured/part-time faculty or graduate student). Further details are available at the conference website. The conference will be held on the campus of New College of Florida, the honors college of the Florida state system. The college, located on Sarasota Bay, is adjacent to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, which will offer tours arranged for conference participants. Sarasota is noted for its beautiful public beaches, theater, food, art and music. Average temperatures in March are a pleasant high of 77F (25C) and a low of 57F (14C). More information will be posted on the conference website as it becomes available, including submission guidelines, prize details, plenary speakers, conference events, and area attractions. To submit an inquiry click here; to submit an abstract, click here. Deadline 15 September 2013.

CFP: CRRS 50^th ANNIVERSARY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
RETHINKING EARLY MODERNITY: METHODOLOGICAL AND CRITICAL INNOVATION SINCE THE RITUAL TURN
26-27 June 2014, Victoria University, Toronto, Ontario. The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a conference in honor of Edward Muir, whose innovative studies of Venetian politics and culture helped to establish cultural anthropology and ritual as major analytical frameworks for scholarship on early modern European history. Building from Muir’s contribution to the field, the conference hopes to focus on the significance of the methodological changes that have characterized early modern research in history, literature and art history over the last thirty years and to reflect upon how these changes have affected our understanding of the importance of the period. Interested scholars are invited to submit a paper proposal on topics that exemplify new directions of critical inquiry spurred by the methodological developments over this period, including, but not limited to, the meaning of popular culture, the role of gender, micro-history, the discovery of the body, the importance of ritual, etc. Topics are also welcome that consider how methodological innovations in early modern scholarship—particularly in recent years—have informed changes in the nature of humanities inquiry, broadly conceived. We welcome papers from all disciplines, geographical areas, and periods housed within the rubric of early modern Europe. Scholars of all ranks are welcome to submit papers, including graduate students. Please submit a title, short abstract (250 words maximum), and brief CV to Mark Jurdjevic and Rolf Strom-Olsen. Deadline 30 September.

CFP: PIEDMONTESE BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE STUDIES FIFTY YEARS ON: ROUNDTABLE AT THE EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY NETWORK THIRD INTERNATIONAL MEETING
Turin, 19- 21 June 2014. The current decade marks the fiftieth anniversary of the great flowering of studies on Piedmontese Baroque architecture during the 1960s. Proceeding from pioneering works of the 1950s such as Rudolf Wittkower’s chapter ”Architecture in Piedmont” in his Art and Architecture in Italy 1600-1750 (1958), or Paolo Portoghesi’s series of articles and brief monograph on Guarini (1956), international and local scholars like Henry Millon, Werner Oechslin, Mario Passanti, and Nino Carboneri produced an impressive array of publications on the period. Some of the milestones of this scholarly output include the architecture section of the exhibition Mostra del Barocco Piemontese (1963), Andreina Griseri’s Metamorfosi del Barocco (1967), and Richard Pommer’s Eighteenth-Century Architecture in Piedmont (1967). This scholarship culminated in major international conferences on Guarini (1968) and Vittone (1970), as well as the initiation of the Corpus Juvarrianum in 1979. This roundtable aims to commemorate the golden age of studies on Piedmontese Baroque architecture through a critical assessment of the heritage of the 1960s. Have Griseri’s and Pommer’s “challenging” (Wittkower) concepts proven robust? Does a traditional geographic-stylistic designation remain fruitful for investigating a region whose two major architects built throughout Europe and whose ruling dynasty entered supraregional marriage alliances? Do recent interdisciplinary methodologies — drawing from fields like geography, sociology, or history of science – reframe the roles of agents like civic authorities, construction workers, or military engineers? Has new material evidence altered long-held assumptions? Discussion positions may directly address historiography or methodology of the 1960s, or present alternative approaches in the form of case studies or new research projects that critically engage with this historic body of scholarship on Piedmontese Baroque architecture, urbanism, and landscape. At its previous conferences, the EAHN did not highlight the architecture of the host region in dedicated panels. Turin, however, arguably presents an ideal venue for an international roundtable with regional focus: then as now, Piedmont is a major European crossroad for cultural influences from the Italian peninsula, France and Spain, northern Europe, and the former Hapsburg empire. Piedmontese Baroque architecture continues to occupy both local and international scholars, as demonstrated by the recent series  of monographic conferences in Turin on architects like Alfieri, Garove, and Juvarra organized by the Bibliotheca Hertziana together with the Venaria Reale consortium. Breaking out of these monographic constraints, this roundtable will provide an opportunity to reflect on where the field has been during the past half century, as well as where it might go in the next fifty years. Please submit proposals to this call for papers for ten-minute discussion positions with CV through the submissions portal on the EAHN 2014 conference website between 15 April and 30 September 2013. Roundtable chair: Susan Klaiber. Deadline: 30 September 2013.

Other Conferences: Opportunities to Attend

THE SUBSTANCE OF SACRED PLACE: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKSHOP ON LOCATIVE MATERIALITY
20-21 June 2013, Florence. Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence. The study of holy places has long been a central concern of not only the humanities, but also the social sciences. Much of this body of scholarship has focused on pilgrimage and sacred centers, either as theoretical constructions or as concrete places, such as Jerusalem, Mecca, or Benares. These subjects have been explored, on the one hand, through the study of ritual and liturgy, and on the other, through various modes of representation, be they architectural, cartographic, iconic, or textual. Complementary to these lines of inquiry, papers will explore the material and tactile dimensions of locative sacrality across religious traditions. For questions and further information please contact conference organizers Annette Hoffmann and Laura Veneskey. Click here to see the program.

EARLY MODERN ROME 2 (1341-1667) 10-12 October 2013, Rome. In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the “Rome Through the Ages” program of the University of California Education Abroad Program, Rome, Italy. Early modern Rome was contradictory and complex; its vernacular and high culture animated and rich. From Petrarch’s crowning as Poet Laureate on the Capitoline in 1341 to the pontificate of Alexander VII Chigi in 1667, this conference aims to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines—history, art and architectural history, literature, music, dance, religious studies, food studies, philosophy, history of medicine or science, and others—to investigate the city and the campagna romana through a variety of different approaches and methods. The resounding response to the first conference in May 2010—76 papers from researchers from 9 different countries over 3 days—mirrored the complex mix of the city itself and the changing face of Renaissance studies. The organizers wish to bring together in a single venue those whose research focuses on the city of Rome and the Roman countryside to encourage scholars to venture outside of their own disciplinary parameters to enter into dialogue with others and explore concurrent forms of cultural production or social and political events. Please note that EMR 2 will extend the confines of the city by organizing sessions on the campagna romana, in particular on the Orsini-Odescalchi Castle of Bracciano. As in the tradition of EMR, the panel(s) “Beyond Rome” aim to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines—history, art and architectural history, literature, music, dance, religious studies, philosophy, history of medicine or science, diplomacy, gender, and others—to investigate the Orsini-Odescalchi Castle and its inhabitants through a variety of approaches and methods. The articles selected for the Bracciano panels will be re-examined after the conference by a special committee and published in two different texts: a scholarly book in English with an academic press and an abbreviated publication in Italian and English to illustrate the history, art and architecture of the Orsini-Odescalchi Castle. Questions should be directed to Julia L. Hairston.

LA SCULPTURE À FLORENCE AU XVE SIÈCLE ET SES FONCTIONS DANS L’ESPACE URBAIN
6-7 December 2013. Paris, INHA et Auditorium du Louvre. À Florence, à partir du début du XVe siècle, la sculpture devient progressivement le vecteur de discours politiques et civiques, en occupant une place majeure au cœur de l’espace public. Ne remplissant pas seulement une fonction représentative du pouvoir politique ou religieux, elle affecte l’espace urbain et les relations sociales. Les statues ornent les places, les marchés, les églises, mais aussi les palais publics et privés, les édifices des corporations marchandes (Arti) et des confréries, les hôpitaux, contribuant à créer une nouvelle topographie des œuvres. Ce colloque est organisé en lien avec l’exposition « Printemps de la Renaissance. La sculpture à Florence 1401 – 1464 » (Palazzo Strozzi, Florence : 21 mars – 18 août 2013 ; Musée du Louvre, Hall Napoléon : 23 septembre 2013 – 6 janvier 2014). Entre autres, les principaux aspects qu’il s’agira de questionner sont: le contexte politique et social florentin et l’émulation entre villes; les lieux comme réceptacles d’un travail artistique et comme porteurs de sens pour la société urbaine; la réception des œuvres et leurs modes de présentation; les modalités de la commande et relations entre initiatives publiques et privées; l’humanisme et les réflexions sur la ville.

Past Conferences on Italian Topics
Conferences 2013
Conferences 2012
Conferences 2011
Conferences 2010

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