Resources in Art History for Graduate Students
SYMPOSIA OF RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE
INTEREST
It is interesting to see how the Renaissance and/or Baroque conference seems to have moved away from the annual
CAA session to more independent venues (RSA, Sixteenth Century Society, SECAC, even Kalamazoo). Is this a sign of
CAA's lack of support for studies in these areas? Debate!
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR NETHERLANDIC STUDIES
5-7 June 2008 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Proposals were due January 15, 2008. Submissions
must be based on original, unpublished research and presentations should be no longer than 20-25 minutes, allowing
for discussion. Selected papers will be published in the series Studies in Dutch Language and Culture. Please send
a one-page electronic abstract to:
Jeroen Dewulf (jdewulf@berkeley.edu),
Jenneke Oosterhoff (ooste003@tc.umn.edu), or
Dan Thornton (dan_thornton@unc.edu)
ARIZONA CENTER FOR MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
Annual--held usually in February. For more information on this or future conferences, check
the Web site. [Folks--why not announce this on some of the many related list-servs in time
to alert others who might be interested?]
ATTENDING TO EARLY MODERN WOMEN VI
Held 9-11 November 2006. Baltimore, Maryland. "While the keynote address and plenary speakers
will concentrate on what scholars of early modern women can learn from considering men and
masculinity, workshops may consider masculinity or CONTINUE PAST CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WOMEN AND
GENDER. Workshops should, however, focus on one of the plenary topics themselves: theorizing gender,
childhood, violence, and pedagogies.[sic] Proposals were due OCTOBER 6, 2005.
BARNARD COLLEGE MEDIEVAL/RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
Held 2 December 2006. Annual? War and Peace in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. "An interdisciplinary
conference on the realities and representations of war and peace in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We
anticipate sessions in the fields of history, military history, and historiography; literature;
art history and visual culture; women's studies; theater; and cultural studies. We welcome abstracts
related to the topic of war and peace from any discipline or methodology. Abstracts were due
May 15, 2006 to Laurie Postlewate, Conference Organizer: (lpostlew@barnard.edu), 3009 Broadway,
New York, NY 10027.
BRIDGING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN MEDIA IN RENAISSANCE [SIC]
19-21 March 2009 Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Los Angeles, California. "While for
Renaissance artists and architects, it was the norm rather than the exception to work in several media, these
polymath tendencies are rarely reflected in modern scholarship. Renaissance artists and authors such as Vasari
certainly recognized the distinctions between diverse artistic media, but most artists and architects not only had
training in other media, but also continued to work between media throughout their careers. This session seeks
examples of this intermediality. It will focus on Renaissance artists whose work challenges the disciplinary
divisions that have been artificially imposed by modern scholarship, in particular between architecture and the
figural arts. Artist whose works cross divisions between figural media may also be appropriate. Papers might
address issues of artistic design and process, or the resulting multimedia works of these artists.
Please submit an abstact of 150 words with a brief c.v. by May 20 to:
Cammy Brothers, University of Virginia (cb9z@virginia.edu)
Yvonne Elet, New York University (yvonne.elet@nyu.edu)
Ann Huppert, University of Kansas (ahuppert@ku.edu)
CARAVAGGIO: REFLECTIONS AND REFRACTIONS
19-21 March 2009 Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Los Angeles, California. "As we
approach the 400th anniversary of CaravaggioÕs death (1610 / 2010), it is time to reconsider the artist and his
works by grappling not with the whole torrent of new Caravaggio research but selectively, with a more
limited group of pivotal if thorny issues that we consider paramount for renovating and re-launching studies in
this field. On reflection, we determined that four themes are particularly suited for these discussions, as they
encompass broad questions destined to change our views on Caravaggio, his art and his followers. Therefore, we are
particularly interested in new essays:
- that challenge the current understanding of CaravaggioÕs and his followers' techniques and creative process;
- that reassess, develop or refute the nearly contradictory perception that many scholars have had in
interpreting Caravaggio: the realist-empirical painter (well acquainted with the new experimental
methodologies in the field of the natural sciences and optics, and therefore favoring "description" over "narrative") vs. the theological painter (deeply
influenced by the pauperism of the early seventeenth-century Counter-Reformation, and therefore elaborating a new
poetics of poverty through his works);
- that re-interpret CaravaggioÕs techniques of narration, especially with respect to temporality, decorum and
verisimilitude; or
- that give new insight into the way CaravaggioÕs followers elaborated on pictorial themes inaugurated or
reformulated by their leader: fortune tellers, cardsharps, tavern scenes, as well as the myriad tropes represented
in his religious pictures.
Proposals should be sent by May 20, 2008, to both:
- Prof. Lorenzo Pericolo
- The Getty Research Institute
- 1200 Getty Center Drive Suite 1100
- Los Angeles CA 90049-1688
- tel 310-440-6400
- fax 310-440-7782
- lpericolo@getty.edu
and
- Prof. David M. Stone
- Department of Art History
- 318 Old College
- Newark, DE 19716
COMING UP FOR HEIR: IDENTITIES AND SEXUALITIES LET
LOOSE IN THE EARLY MODERN AGE
24-27 April 2008 Long Beach, CA. "The European Early Modern Age designates a period that spans from the Quatrocento
[sic] to the Enlightenment, between the 15th and 18th centuries. Known for its rich interconnectedness between cultures and
languages, it was a fertile period that witnessed monumental political and historical shifts such as the accelerated
Christianization of many non-Western populations as well as the advent of the Age of Exploration. As the many kingdoms,
languages and burgeoning countries (city-states) in Western Europe were reshaping and redefining their own cultural and
political identities, Early Modern writers were engaging with polemics of the day asserting and confronting their own
identities and sexualities within and outside the domain of the written word. Male and female writers express a fascination
with a turn to the classical golden age explaining the epistemological and philosophical shift and pursuing questions of
subjectivity and representation. Our panel will reflect on the nature of these variously recorded identities and their
engagement with community as a cultural and visual exercise. "We welcome papers addressing cross-cultural, interdisciplinary
approaches, in particular those that engage in both verbal and visual genres." Proposals were due November 15, 2007.
THE DEVIL IN SOCIETY IN THE PRE-MODERN WORLD
17 and 18 October 2008, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. An international, interdisciplinary conference hosted
by the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. "This
multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine the broad trajectory of devil beliefs in the period prior
to 1650 in order to help explain what might be termed the general diabolisation of European thought as it is
refracted through society and culture arguably from the middle of the fifteenth century. By surveying the
variety in form and function of diabolical and demonic discourses and their social expression both at a series
of particular historical moments, and over the /longue duree/, the conference aims to advance our understanding of
the changing role of the devil in popular and elite culture and aetiology from late antiquity to its height in the
early modern period.
"The conference organisers invite submissions for individual 20-minute papers, for panels (generally
consisting of three papers), and workshops or round-tables dealing with any aspect of demonism and its manifestation
in the classical, medieval, and Early Modern traditions...Abstracts were due 15 December 2007 to Richard Raiswell (Univ.
of Prince Edward Island) and Peter Dendle (Penn State Univ.) at:(devilconf@ma.psu.edu)."
HISTORIANS OF NETHERLANDISH ART
Information about all conferences they sponsor, plus links to other announcements.
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE SCULPTURE CONFERENCE
October 30-November 1, 2008 Memphis, Tennessee. "The conference will address issues related to Italian sculpture
from the 14th through the 16th century. Topics on any subject related to this field are welcome. Interested parties should
send a brief abstract (about 250 words) to the program committee c/o coonin@rhodes.edu before June 1, 2008. We
also welcome participation as a session chair, discussant, or audience member. Participants will be notified by the middle
of June. Some travel funds are available for speakers traveling from abroad.
NEW COLLEGE CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE STUDIES
March 6-8, 2008. Biennial. More information to be posted. [N. B.:
An excellent conference! Highly recommended by the editor!] For more information see the Website and contact:
- Nova Myhill
- Division of Humanities
- New College of Florida
- 5700 N. Tamiami Trail
- Sarasota FL 34243
NEWBERRY LIBRARY GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE
Annual. About June every year. "Organized and run by graduate students,the conference is interdisciplinary in
scope; papers are invited in any area of medieval or Renaissance studies. It provides participants the opportunity
to present their work in a collegial scholarly forum, to meet students from other institutions and disciplines who
will be their future colleagues, and to become familiar with the Newberry Library and its resources." For more
information, see the Web site.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
Held 3-5 April 2008. Vancouver, British Columbia. "The theme for this year's conference is "Renaissance
In-Betweenness." We invite papers, panels, discussion groups, and workshops that examine Renaissance engagements
with various transitional figures and cultural artifacts. The PNRS program coincides with the annual convention of
the Medieval Academy at the Hyatt Regency, and both organizations hope that conference participants will engage in
fruitful conversation across a range of historical fields and disciplines...Individual abstracts
(250-words) or panel / workshop proposals to Tiffany Alkan (talkan@sfu.ca) and Vin Nardizzi
(nardizzi@interchange.ubc.ca) were due October 1, 2007.
PATRISTIC, MEDIEVAL, AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES CONFERENCE
10-12 October 2008. Villanova University. 33rd International PMR Conference. "As always, the PMR makes an *
OPEN CALL to scholars, institutions, and societies/ to propose * *Papers, Panels, or Sponsored Sessions in
_all areas and topics_ *in *late antiquity/patristics, Byzantine Studies, Medieval Studies, Islamic Studies, Jewish
Studies, *and* Renaissance & Reformation Studies. *. DEADLINE is May 30, 2008." Please visit *the Web site* for
further details.
PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE FORUM
25-26 April 2008. Annual. Please see the Web site for more information.
PROVO/ATHENS ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
SCULPTURE CONFERENCE
October 30-November 1, 2008 Rhodes College and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN. "The conference will
address issues related to Italian sculpture from the 14th through the 16th century. Topics on any subject related to this
field are welcome. Interested parties should send a brief abstract (about 250 words) to the program committee c/o
coonin@rhodes.edu before June 1, 2008.
REINVENTING THE OLD MASTER: FACT, FICTION, AND FABRICATION IN THE AFTERLIVES OF
OF THE EARLY MODERN ARTIST
19-21 March 2009 Conference of the Renaissance Society of America, UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. "Scholars
have long recognized that the nineteenth century saw a surge of interest in the lives of Renaissance and Early
Modern artists, an interest made manifest in a variety of media, including painting, prints, critical biographies,
popular literature, theater, opera, and caricature. Much attention, for instance, has been paid to the proliferation
of imagery recreating episodes from biographies of artists from Giotto to Rembrandt. Of particular import is the
recognition that the majority of these interpretations adhere to traditional literary topoi and biographical
patterns, such as the artist as madman, bohemian, child prodigy, or sexual deviant. These later interpretations
present themselves as history, but, in actuality, fact, fiction, and fabrication are inextricably entwined in the
nineteenth-century Nachleben of the Early Modern artist. How do we reconcile contradictions between the popular
perception of the artist and historical evidence?
"This session seeks to examine the reinvention of the Old Master from an interdisciplinary standpoint, starting
with a basic question: what can these later "lives" offer the modern historian? To what degree were artists subject
to myth and to what degree did the artist shape his own mythic persona? How has modern scholarship been colored by
Romantic interpretation - and in what ways is Romantic interpretation itself dependent on tropes created by the
Early Modern biographers and artists? This panel welcomes papers addressing these issues in relation to all
forms of textual, verbal, and/or visual material. Please submit an abstract of no more than 150 words and a short CV
via e-mail to Dr. Mia Reinoso Genoni at genoniRSA@gmail.com by May 23, 2008.
RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Held 2 February 2008. Annual, about the same time every year. See the Web site for full information.
RENAISSANCE NEOPATONISM AND THE ARTS
19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "Whereas [SIC]
the impact of Neoplatonism on Renaissance culture has always been emphasized by researchers of the history of
literature and philosophy, it has been repeatedly ignored or even challenged by art historians. With regard to
Michelangelo's art, for instance, the influence of Neoplatonism has been rejected alltogether by Eugenio Garin
and Horst Bredekamp, although his lyrics bespeak a thorough knowledge of neoplatonic theories. Apart from the
disregard of the results of research done in other fields, the reason for this seems to be the misconception that
the interpreter of Renaissance art must decide between Neoplatonism and Christian Orthodoxy although it is one of the
most outstanding characteristics of Neoplatonism to successfully connect philosophy with Christian tradition.
This call welcomes papers on all aspects regarding the interrelation or non-relation between philosophy and art in
the Renaissance, be it case studies or more general approaches. Please send abstract of no more than 150 words and
curriculum vitae to:
- Berthold Hub/ETH Zurich:
- berthold.hub@gta.arch.ehtz.ch
- Deadline: 15 May 2008
RENAISSANCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
"Since 1954, the Renaissance Society of America has been the leading organization in the Americas for the
interdisciplinary study of the period 1300-1650 in Western history."
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SOCIETY CONFERENCE
23-26 October 2008. St. Louis, MO. Abstracts were due March 15, 2008. For more information please see
the Web page.
SOCIETY FOR ITALIAN STUDIES POSTGRADUATE COLLOQUIUM (UK)
6 June 2008 University of Reading, UK. "Postgraduate students are invited to submit proposals on any
aspect of Italian Studies. Papers may be given in Italian or English and should last approximately 20 minutes.
Abstracts were due Friday 4 ApriL 2008 to: Paolo Russo and Sergio Rigoletto at the following e-mail
address: p.russo@reading.ac.uk (please specify "Abstract submission" as the subject of your e-mail).
SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE ART CONFERENCE
?Held 6-8 March 2008. Kansas City, Missouri. The deadline for abstracts was December 1, 2007.
SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE STUDIES (UK)
10-12 July 2008 To be held in Dublin. Headquartered in London. "The Society has a limited number of bursaries
for postgraduate students who would like to attend the conference." Also publishes Renaissance Studies.
Check the growing Web site for more information. Proposals for papers and panels are invited for the third
interdisciplinary conference of the Society for Renaissance Studies. The Society would welcome papers on any
aspects of Renaissance history, literature, philosophy, music, art, architecture and other artefacts. Proposals
are welcome from both established scholars and post-graduates working in the field. Proposals were due Friday 7
September 2007.
SOUTH CENTRAL RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
6-8 March 2008. Annual. Kansas City, MO. The deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2007.
Check the Web site for more information. Same as the SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE ART CONFERENCE, looks like.
STUDY OF RENAISSANCE INVENTORIES
19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "In light
of the efflorescence of scholarly interest in early modern collecting, this panel will examine the historical
documents that provide us with some of the most salient information about collections' contents and organization.
Inventories have long been used by scholars to assess the size and composition of collections, to track the
provenance of objects and to better understand the tastes of a particular patron. We contend that the study of
inventories can, in addition to opening new avenues of investigations into collecting practices, also incite
practical and methodological questions pertinent to the study of Renaissance art, science and culture. The sorts of
inventories we foresee examining include inventories of palaces, libraries, collections, studioli, Kunstkammern,
ships, etc. Among the questions this panel seeks to ask are: How did inventories function? What can inventories
tell us about the storage, display and movement of objects? How can we track the exchange of objects between
collections through the study of inventories? How can we translate the language of inventories? We welcome case
studies of individual inventories as well as papers that examine methodological concerns bearing on the study of
various inventories. Please send a 150 [SIC] abstract, paper title and CV to both Jessica Keating (j-keating@northwestern.edu)
and Lia Markey (lmarkey@uchicago.edu). Deadline: 16 May 2008. Speakers must be members of RSA at the time of the Conference.
[TEXTILES] TOWARDS AN ICONOLOGY OF THE TEXTILE
19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "The
fabrication of textiles is one of the oldest cultural technologies. Nevertheless, relatively little art historical
research is being done on textiles. The objective of the proposed RSA session is to investigate the historical
meanings and functions of the textile medium in early modern art and architecture. The exploration of this specific
medium is meant as to contribution to a historical theory or iconology of the textile. The interdisciplinary study
of such a textile discourse may touch on:
the myths of the origins of the textile (Arachne etc.),
the textuality and narrativity of the textile (the metaphor of the textus,
narrative structures in tapestry cycles etc.),
the transmediality of the textile (painted or sculpted textiles etc.),
the textile constructions of space (ephemeral textile architectures etc.),
the sacred textiles (liturgical functions of textiles, the idea of the
veil, etc.),
the genders of the textile (female virtues associated to the craft etc.),
and the modernity of the textile arts (a critical history of textile
studies).
Scholars of any discipline interested in a historical reflection on the textile are invited to submit a paper
title, a 150 words abstract, and a short CV to Tristan Weddigen (weddigen@gmx.ch) by 15 May 2008.
UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS AT TYLER CONFERENCE ON CLASSICAL, MEDIEVAL, AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
Held 3 March 2007. Annual? Web site seldom updated in time for submissions; you ask them why.
For more information, please attempt to see the Web site.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA COLLEGE AT WISE
MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
18-20 September 2008. Wise, Virginia. "The University of Virginia's College at Wise Medieval-Renaissance
Conference promotes scholarly discussion in all disciplines of Medieval and Renaissance studies. The conference
welcomes proposals for papers and panels on Medieval or Renaissance literature, language, history, philosophy,
science, pedagogy, and the arts. Abstracts for papers should be 250 or fewer words. Proposals for panels should
include: a) title of the panel; b) names and institutional affiliations of the chair and all panelists; c) abstracts
for papers to be presented (250 or fewer words). For more information, please visit the website. Deadline for
Submissions: June 10, 2008.
Something Else to Do: Blogs and Suchlike
- Renaissance Lit Blog From Adam Smyth, University of Reading,
UK.
- Web4Ren Forum "Many sorts of information of
potential relevance to those interested in Renaissance Intellectual History."
- More to come, I hope...
Return to the Main Resources Page
A Guide to Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture
This Web Page created, owned and updated by: Adrienne DeAngelis
It is interesting to see how the Renaissance and/or Baroque conference seems to have moved away from the annual CAA session to more independent venues (RSA, Sixteenth Century Society, SECAC, even Kalamazoo). Is this a sign of CAA's lack of support for studies in these areas? Debate!
5-7 June 2008 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Proposals were due January 15, 2008. Submissions
must be based on original, unpublished research and presentations should be no longer than 20-25 minutes, allowing
for discussion. Selected papers will be published in the series Studies in Dutch Language and Culture. Please send
a one-page electronic abstract to:
Jeroen Dewulf (jdewulf@berkeley.edu),
Jenneke Oosterhoff (ooste003@tc.umn.edu), or
Dan Thornton (dan_thornton@unc.edu)
Annual--held usually in February. For more information on this or future conferences, check the Web site. [Folks--why not announce this on some of the many related list-servs in time to alert others who might be interested?]
Held 9-11 November 2006. Baltimore, Maryland. "While the keynote address and plenary speakers will concentrate on what scholars of early modern women can learn from considering men and masculinity, workshops may consider masculinity or CONTINUE PAST CONVERSATIONS ABOUT WOMEN AND GENDER. Workshops should, however, focus on one of the plenary topics themselves: theorizing gender, childhood, violence, and pedagogies.[sic] Proposals were due OCTOBER 6, 2005.
Held 2 December 2006. Annual? War and Peace in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. "An interdisciplinary conference on the realities and representations of war and peace in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. We anticipate sessions in the fields of history, military history, and historiography; literature; art history and visual culture; women's studies; theater; and cultural studies. We welcome abstracts related to the topic of war and peace from any discipline or methodology. Abstracts were due May 15, 2006 to Laurie Postlewate, Conference Organizer: (lpostlew@barnard.edu), 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027.
BRIDGING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN MEDIA IN RENAISSANCE [SIC]
19-21 March 2009 Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Los Angeles, California. "While for
Renaissance artists and architects, it was the norm rather than the exception to work in several media, these
polymath tendencies are rarely reflected in modern scholarship. Renaissance artists and authors such as Vasari
certainly recognized the distinctions between diverse artistic media, but most artists and architects not only had
training in other media, but also continued to work between media throughout their careers. This session seeks
examples of this intermediality. It will focus on Renaissance artists whose work challenges the disciplinary
divisions that have been artificially imposed by modern scholarship, in particular between architecture and the
figural arts. Artist whose works cross divisions between figural media may also be appropriate. Papers might
address issues of artistic design and process, or the resulting multimedia works of these artists.
Please submit an abstact of 150 words with a brief c.v. by May 20 to:
Cammy Brothers, University of Virginia (cb9z@virginia.edu)
Yvonne Elet, New York University (yvonne.elet@nyu.edu)
Ann Huppert, University of Kansas (ahuppert@ku.edu)
CARAVAGGIO: REFLECTIONS AND REFRACTIONS
19-21 March 2009 Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Los Angeles, California. "As we
approach the 400th anniversary of CaravaggioÕs death (1610 / 2010), it is time to reconsider the artist and his
works by grappling not with the whole torrent of new Caravaggio research but selectively, with a more
limited group of pivotal if thorny issues that we consider paramount for renovating and re-launching studies in
this field. On reflection, we determined that four themes are particularly suited for these discussions, as they
encompass broad questions destined to change our views on Caravaggio, his art and his followers. Therefore, we are
particularly interested in new essays:
- that challenge the current understanding of CaravaggioÕs and his followers' techniques and creative process;
- that reassess, develop or refute the nearly contradictory perception that many scholars have had in
interpreting Caravaggio: the realist-empirical painter (well acquainted with the new experimental
methodologies in the field of the natural sciences and optics, and therefore favoring "description" over "narrative") vs. the theological painter (deeply
influenced by the pauperism of the early seventeenth-century Counter-Reformation, and therefore elaborating a new
poetics of poverty through his works);
- that re-interpret CaravaggioÕs techniques of narration, especially with respect to temporality, decorum and
verisimilitude; or
- that give new insight into the way CaravaggioÕs followers elaborated on pictorial themes inaugurated or
reformulated by their leader: fortune tellers, cardsharps, tavern scenes, as well as the myriad tropes represented
in his religious pictures.
Proposals should be sent by May 20, 2008, to both:
- Prof. Lorenzo Pericolo
- The Getty Research Institute
- 1200 Getty Center Drive Suite 1100
- Los Angeles CA 90049-1688
- tel 310-440-6400
- fax 310-440-7782
- lpericolo@getty.edu
and
- Prof. David M. Stone
- Department of Art History
- 318 Old College
- Newark, DE 19716
COMING UP FOR HEIR: IDENTITIES AND SEXUALITIES LET
LOOSE IN THE EARLY MODERN AGE
24-27 April 2008 Long Beach, CA. "The European Early Modern Age designates a period that spans from the Quatrocento
[sic] to the Enlightenment, between the 15th and 18th centuries. Known for its rich interconnectedness between cultures and
languages, it was a fertile period that witnessed monumental political and historical shifts such as the accelerated
Christianization of many non-Western populations as well as the advent of the Age of Exploration. As the many kingdoms,
languages and burgeoning countries (city-states) in Western Europe were reshaping and redefining their own cultural and
political identities, Early Modern writers were engaging with polemics of the day asserting and confronting their own
identities and sexualities within and outside the domain of the written word. Male and female writers express a fascination
with a turn to the classical golden age explaining the epistemological and philosophical shift and pursuing questions of
subjectivity and representation. Our panel will reflect on the nature of these variously recorded identities and their
engagement with community as a cultural and visual exercise. "We welcome papers addressing cross-cultural, interdisciplinary
approaches, in particular those that engage in both verbal and visual genres." Proposals were due November 15, 2007.
THE DEVIL IN SOCIETY IN THE PRE-MODERN WORLD
17 and 18 October 2008, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. An international, interdisciplinary conference hosted
by the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. "This
multi-disciplinary conference seeks to examine the broad trajectory of devil beliefs in the period prior
to 1650 in order to help explain what might be termed the general diabolisation of European thought as it is
refracted through society and culture arguably from the middle of the fifteenth century. By surveying the
variety in form and function of diabolical and demonic discourses and their social expression both at a series
of particular historical moments, and over the /longue duree/, the conference aims to advance our understanding of
the changing role of the devil in popular and elite culture and aetiology from late antiquity to its height in the
early modern period.
"The conference organisers invite submissions for individual 20-minute papers, for panels (generally
consisting of three papers), and workshops or round-tables dealing with any aspect of demonism and its manifestation
in the classical, medieval, and Early Modern traditions...Abstracts were due 15 December 2007 to Richard Raiswell (Univ.
of Prince Edward Island) and Peter Dendle (Penn State Univ.) at:(devilconf@ma.psu.edu)."
HISTORIANS OF NETHERLANDISH ART
Information about all conferences they sponsor, plus links to other announcements.
ITALIAN RENAISSANCE SCULPTURE CONFERENCE
October 30-November 1, 2008 Memphis, Tennessee. "The conference will address issues related to Italian sculpture
from the 14th through the 16th century. Topics on any subject related to this field are welcome. Interested parties should
send a brief abstract (about 250 words) to the program committee c/o coonin@rhodes.edu before June 1, 2008. We
also welcome participation as a session chair, discussant, or audience member. Participants will be notified by the middle
of June. Some travel funds are available for speakers traveling from abroad.
NEW COLLEGE CONFERENCE ON MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE STUDIES
March 6-8, 2008. Biennial. More information to be posted. [N. B.:
An excellent conference! Highly recommended by the editor!] For more information see the Website and contact:
- Nova Myhill
- Division of Humanities
- New College of Florida
- 5700 N. Tamiami Trail
- Sarasota FL 34243
NEWBERRY LIBRARY GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE
Annual. About June every year. "Organized and run by graduate students,the conference is interdisciplinary in
scope; papers are invited in any area of medieval or Renaissance studies. It provides participants the opportunity
to present their work in a collegial scholarly forum, to meet students from other institutions and disciplines who
will be their future colleagues, and to become familiar with the Newberry Library and its resources." For more
information, see the Web site.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
Held 3-5 April 2008. Vancouver, British Columbia. "The theme for this year's conference is "Renaissance
In-Betweenness." We invite papers, panels, discussion groups, and workshops that examine Renaissance engagements
with various transitional figures and cultural artifacts. The PNRS program coincides with the annual convention of
the Medieval Academy at the Hyatt Regency, and both organizations hope that conference participants will engage in
fruitful conversation across a range of historical fields and disciplines...Individual abstracts
(250-words) or panel / workshop proposals to Tiffany Alkan (talkan@sfu.ca) and Vin Nardizzi
(nardizzi@interchange.ubc.ca) were due October 1, 2007.
PATRISTIC, MEDIEVAL, AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES CONFERENCE
10-12 October 2008. Villanova University. 33rd International PMR Conference. "As always, the PMR makes an *
OPEN CALL to scholars, institutions, and societies/ to propose * *Papers, Panels, or Sponsored Sessions in
_all areas and topics_ *in *late antiquity/patristics, Byzantine Studies, Medieval Studies, Islamic Studies, Jewish
Studies, *and* Renaissance & Reformation Studies. *. DEADLINE is May 30, 2008." Please visit *the Web site* for
further details.
PLYMOUTH STATE UNIVERSITY MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE FORUM
25-26 April 2008. Annual. Please see the Web site for more information.
PROVO/ATHENS ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
SCULPTURE CONFERENCE
October 30-November 1, 2008 Rhodes College and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN. "The conference will
address issues related to Italian sculpture from the 14th through the 16th century. Topics on any subject related to this
field are welcome. Interested parties should send a brief abstract (about 250 words) to the program committee c/o
coonin@rhodes.edu before June 1, 2008.
REINVENTING THE OLD MASTER: FACT, FICTION, AND FABRICATION IN THE AFTERLIVES OF
OF THE EARLY MODERN ARTIST
19-21 March 2009 Conference of the Renaissance Society of America, UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. "Scholars
have long recognized that the nineteenth century saw a surge of interest in the lives of Renaissance and Early
Modern artists, an interest made manifest in a variety of media, including painting, prints, critical biographies,
popular literature, theater, opera, and caricature. Much attention, for instance, has been paid to the proliferation
of imagery recreating episodes from biographies of artists from Giotto to Rembrandt. Of particular import is the
recognition that the majority of these interpretations adhere to traditional literary topoi and biographical
patterns, such as the artist as madman, bohemian, child prodigy, or sexual deviant. These later interpretations
present themselves as history, but, in actuality, fact, fiction, and fabrication are inextricably entwined in the
nineteenth-century Nachleben of the Early Modern artist. How do we reconcile contradictions between the popular
perception of the artist and historical evidence?
"This session seeks to examine the reinvention of the Old Master from an interdisciplinary standpoint, starting
with a basic question: what can these later "lives" offer the modern historian? To what degree were artists subject
to myth and to what degree did the artist shape his own mythic persona? How has modern scholarship been colored by
Romantic interpretation - and in what ways is Romantic interpretation itself dependent on tropes created by the
Early Modern biographers and artists? This panel welcomes papers addressing these issues in relation to all
forms of textual, verbal, and/or visual material. Please submit an abstract of no more than 150 words and a short CV
via e-mail to Dr. Mia Reinoso Genoni at genoniRSA@gmail.com by May 23, 2008.
RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Held 2 February 2008. Annual, about the same time every year. See the Web site for full information.
RENAISSANCE NEOPATONISM AND THE ARTS
19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "Whereas [SIC]
the impact of Neoplatonism on Renaissance culture has always been emphasized by researchers of the history of
literature and philosophy, it has been repeatedly ignored or even challenged by art historians. With regard to
Michelangelo's art, for instance, the influence of Neoplatonism has been rejected alltogether by Eugenio Garin
and Horst Bredekamp, although his lyrics bespeak a thorough knowledge of neoplatonic theories. Apart from the
disregard of the results of research done in other fields, the reason for this seems to be the misconception that
the interpreter of Renaissance art must decide between Neoplatonism and Christian Orthodoxy although it is one of the
most outstanding characteristics of Neoplatonism to successfully connect philosophy with Christian tradition.
This call welcomes papers on all aspects regarding the interrelation or non-relation between philosophy and art in
the Renaissance, be it case studies or more general approaches. Please send abstract of no more than 150 words and
curriculum vitae to:
- Berthold Hub/ETH Zurich:
- berthold.hub@gta.arch.ehtz.ch
- Deadline: 15 May 2008
RENAISSANCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA
"Since 1954, the Renaissance Society of America has been the leading organization in the Americas for the
interdisciplinary study of the period 1300-1650 in Western history."
SIXTEENTH-CENTURY SOCIETY CONFERENCE
23-26 October 2008. St. Louis, MO. Abstracts were due March 15, 2008. For more information please see
the Web page.
SOCIETY FOR ITALIAN STUDIES POSTGRADUATE COLLOQUIUM (UK)
6 June 2008 University of Reading, UK. "Postgraduate students are invited to submit proposals on any
aspect of Italian Studies. Papers may be given in Italian or English and should last approximately 20 minutes.
Abstracts were due Friday 4 ApriL 2008 to: Paolo Russo and Sergio Rigoletto at the following e-mail
address: p.russo@reading.ac.uk (please specify "Abstract submission" as the subject of your e-mail).
SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE ART CONFERENCE
?Held 6-8 March 2008. Kansas City, Missouri. The deadline for abstracts was December 1, 2007.
SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE STUDIES (UK)
10-12 July 2008 To be held in Dublin. Headquartered in London. "The Society has a limited number of bursaries
for postgraduate students who would like to attend the conference." Also publishes Renaissance Studies.
Check the growing Web site for more information. Proposals for papers and panels are invited for the third
interdisciplinary conference of the Society for Renaissance Studies. The Society would welcome papers on any
aspects of Renaissance history, literature, philosophy, music, art, architecture and other artefacts. Proposals
are welcome from both established scholars and post-graduates working in the field. Proposals were due Friday 7
September 2007.
SOUTH CENTRAL RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
6-8 March 2008. Annual. Kansas City, MO. The deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2007.
Check the Web site for more information. Same as the SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE ART CONFERENCE, looks like.
STUDY OF RENAISSANCE INVENTORIES
19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "In light
of the efflorescence of scholarly interest in early modern collecting, this panel will examine the historical
documents that provide us with some of the most salient information about collections' contents and organization.
Inventories have long been used by scholars to assess the size and composition of collections, to track the
provenance of objects and to better understand the tastes of a particular patron. We contend that the study of
inventories can, in addition to opening new avenues of investigations into collecting practices, also incite
practical and methodological questions pertinent to the study of Renaissance art, science and culture. The sorts of
inventories we foresee examining include inventories of palaces, libraries, collections, studioli, Kunstkammern,
ships, etc. Among the questions this panel seeks to ask are: How did inventories function? What can inventories
tell us about the storage, display and movement of objects? How can we track the exchange of objects between
collections through the study of inventories? How can we translate the language of inventories? We welcome case
studies of individual inventories as well as papers that examine methodological concerns bearing on the study of
various inventories. Please send a 150 [SIC] abstract, paper title and CV to both Jessica Keating (j-keating@northwestern.edu)
and Lia Markey (lmarkey@uchicago.edu). Deadline: 16 May 2008. Speakers must be members of RSA at the time of the Conference.
[TEXTILES] TOWARDS AN ICONOLOGY OF THE TEXTILE
19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "The
fabrication of textiles is one of the oldest cultural technologies. Nevertheless, relatively little art historical
research is being done on textiles. The objective of the proposed RSA session is to investigate the historical
meanings and functions of the textile medium in early modern art and architecture. The exploration of this specific
medium is meant as to contribution to a historical theory or iconology of the textile. The interdisciplinary study
of such a textile discourse may touch on:
the myths of the origins of the textile (Arachne etc.),
the textuality and narrativity of the textile (the metaphor of the textus,
narrative structures in tapestry cycles etc.),
the transmediality of the textile (painted or sculpted textiles etc.),
the textile constructions of space (ephemeral textile architectures etc.),
the sacred textiles (liturgical functions of textiles, the idea of the
veil, etc.),
the genders of the textile (female virtues associated to the craft etc.),
and the modernity of the textile arts (a critical history of textile
studies).
Scholars of any discipline interested in a historical reflection on the textile are invited to submit a paper
title, a 150 words abstract, and a short CV to Tristan Weddigen (weddigen@gmx.ch) by 15 May 2008.
UNIVERSITY
OF TEXAS AT TYLER CONFERENCE ON CLASSICAL, MEDIEVAL, AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES
Held 3 March 2007. Annual? Web site seldom updated in time for submissions; you ask them why.
For more information, please attempt to see the Web site.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA COLLEGE AT WISE
MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
18-20 September 2008. Wise, Virginia. "The University of Virginia's College at Wise Medieval-Renaissance
Conference promotes scholarly discussion in all disciplines of Medieval and Renaissance studies. The conference
welcomes proposals for papers and panels on Medieval or Renaissance literature, language, history, philosophy,
science, pedagogy, and the arts. Abstracts for papers should be 250 or fewer words. Proposals for panels should
include: a) title of the panel; b) names and institutional affiliations of the chair and all panelists; c) abstracts
for papers to be presented (250 or fewer words). For more information, please visit the website. Deadline for
Submissions: June 10, 2008.
Something Else to Do: Blogs and Suchlike
- Renaissance Lit Blog From Adam Smyth, University of Reading,
UK.
- Web4Ren Forum "Many sorts of information of
potential relevance to those interested in Renaissance Intellectual History."
- More to come, I hope...
Return to the Main Resources Page
A Guide to Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture
This Web Page created, owned and updated by: Adrienne DeAngelis
19-21 March 2009 Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Los Angeles, California. "While for
Renaissance artists and architects, it was the norm rather than the exception to work in several media, these
polymath tendencies are rarely reflected in modern scholarship. Renaissance artists and authors such as Vasari
certainly recognized the distinctions between diverse artistic media, but most artists and architects not only had
training in other media, but also continued to work between media throughout their careers. This session seeks
examples of this intermediality. It will focus on Renaissance artists whose work challenges the disciplinary
divisions that have been artificially imposed by modern scholarship, in particular between architecture and the
figural arts. Artist whose works cross divisions between figural media may also be appropriate. Papers might
address issues of artistic design and process, or the resulting multimedia works of these artists.
Please submit an abstact of 150 words with a brief c.v. by May 20 to:
Cammy Brothers, University of Virginia (cb9z@virginia.edu)
Yvonne Elet, New York University (yvonne.elet@nyu.edu)
Ann Huppert, University of Kansas (ahuppert@ku.edu)
CARAVAGGIO: REFLECTIONS AND REFRACTIONS19-21 March 2009 Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Los Angeles, California. "As we approach the 400th anniversary of CaravaggioÕs death (1610 / 2010), it is time to reconsider the artist and his works by grappling not with the whole torrent of new Caravaggio research but selectively, with a more limited group of pivotal if thorny issues that we consider paramount for renovating and re-launching studies in this field. On reflection, we determined that four themes are particularly suited for these discussions, as they encompass broad questions destined to change our views on Caravaggio, his art and his followers. Therefore, we are particularly interested in new essays:
- that challenge the current understanding of CaravaggioÕs and his followers' techniques and creative process;
- that reassess, develop or refute the nearly contradictory perception that many scholars have had in interpreting Caravaggio: the realist-empirical painter (well acquainted with the new experimental methodologies in the field of the natural sciences and optics, and therefore favoring "description" over "narrative") vs. the theological painter (deeply influenced by the pauperism of the early seventeenth-century Counter-Reformation, and therefore elaborating a new poetics of poverty through his works);
- that re-interpret CaravaggioÕs techniques of narration, especially with respect to temporality, decorum and verisimilitude; or
- that give new insight into the way CaravaggioÕs followers elaborated on pictorial themes inaugurated or
reformulated by their leader: fortune tellers, cardsharps, tavern scenes, as well as the myriad tropes represented
in his religious pictures.
-
Proposals should be sent by May 20, 2008, to both:
- Prof. Lorenzo Pericolo
- The Getty Research Institute
- 1200 Getty Center Drive Suite 1100
- Los Angeles CA 90049-1688
- tel 310-440-6400
- fax 310-440-7782
- lpericolo@getty.edu
- Prof. David M. Stone
- Department of Art History
- 318 Old College
- Newark, DE 19716
24-27 April 2008 Long Beach, CA. "The European Early Modern Age designates a period that spans from the Quatrocento [sic] to the Enlightenment, between the 15th and 18th centuries. Known for its rich interconnectedness between cultures and languages, it was a fertile period that witnessed monumental political and historical shifts such as the accelerated Christianization of many non-Western populations as well as the advent of the Age of Exploration. As the many kingdoms, languages and burgeoning countries (city-states) in Western Europe were reshaping and redefining their own cultural and political identities, Early Modern writers were engaging with polemics of the day asserting and confronting their own identities and sexualities within and outside the domain of the written word. Male and female writers express a fascination with a turn to the classical golden age explaining the epistemological and philosophical shift and pursuing questions of subjectivity and representation. Our panel will reflect on the nature of these variously recorded identities and their engagement with community as a cultural and visual exercise. "We welcome papers addressing cross-cultural, interdisciplinary approaches, in particular those that engage in both verbal and visual genres." Proposals were due November 15, 2007.
"The conference organisers invite submissions for individual 20-minute papers, for panels (generally consisting of three papers), and workshops or round-tables dealing with any aspect of demonism and its manifestation in the classical, medieval, and Early Modern traditions...Abstracts were due 15 December 2007 to Richard Raiswell (Univ. of Prince Edward Island) and Peter Dendle (Penn State Univ.) at:(devilconf@ma.psu.edu)."
Information about all conferences they sponsor, plus links to other announcements.
October 30-November 1, 2008 Memphis, Tennessee. "The conference will address issues related to Italian sculpture from the 14th through the 16th century. Topics on any subject related to this field are welcome. Interested parties should send a brief abstract (about 250 words) to the program committee c/o coonin@rhodes.edu before June 1, 2008. We also welcome participation as a session chair, discussant, or audience member. Participants will be notified by the middle of June. Some travel funds are available for speakers traveling from abroad.
March 6-8, 2008. Biennial. More information to be posted. [N. B.: An excellent conference! Highly recommended by the editor!] For more information see the Website and contact:
- Nova Myhill
- Division of Humanities
- New College of Florida
- 5700 N. Tamiami Trail
- Sarasota FL 34243
Annual. About June every year. "Organized and run by graduate students,the conference is interdisciplinary in scope; papers are invited in any area of medieval or Renaissance studies. It provides participants the opportunity to present their work in a collegial scholarly forum, to meet students from other institutions and disciplines who will be their future colleagues, and to become familiar with the Newberry Library and its resources." For more information, see the Web site.
Held 3-5 April 2008. Vancouver, British Columbia. "The theme for this year's conference is "Renaissance In-Betweenness." We invite papers, panels, discussion groups, and workshops that examine Renaissance engagements with various transitional figures and cultural artifacts. The PNRS program coincides with the annual convention of the Medieval Academy at the Hyatt Regency, and both organizations hope that conference participants will engage in fruitful conversation across a range of historical fields and disciplines...Individual abstracts (250-words) or panel / workshop proposals to Tiffany Alkan (talkan@sfu.ca) and Vin Nardizzi (nardizzi@interchange.ubc.ca) were due October 1, 2007.
PATRISTIC, MEDIEVAL, AND RENAISSANCE STUDIES CONFERENCE10-12 October 2008. Villanova University. 33rd International PMR Conference. "As always, the PMR makes an * OPEN CALL to scholars, institutions, and societies/ to propose * *Papers, Panels, or Sponsored Sessions in _all areas and topics_ *in *late antiquity/patristics, Byzantine Studies, Medieval Studies, Islamic Studies, Jewish Studies, *and* Renaissance & Reformation Studies. *. DEADLINE is May 30, 2008." Please visit *the Web site* for further details.
25-26 April 2008. Annual. Please see the Web site for more information.
PROVO/ATHENS ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
SCULPTURE CONFERENCEOctober 30-November 1, 2008 Rhodes College and Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN. "The conference will address issues related to Italian sculpture from the 14th through the 16th century. Topics on any subject related to this field are welcome. Interested parties should send a brief abstract (about 250 words) to the program committee c/o coonin@rhodes.edu before June 1, 2008.
REINVENTING THE OLD MASTER: FACT, FICTION, AND FABRICATION IN THE AFTERLIVES OF
OF THE EARLY MODERN ARTIST19-21 March 2009 Conference of the Renaissance Society of America, UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. "Scholars have long recognized that the nineteenth century saw a surge of interest in the lives of Renaissance and Early Modern artists, an interest made manifest in a variety of media, including painting, prints, critical biographies, popular literature, theater, opera, and caricature. Much attention, for instance, has been paid to the proliferation of imagery recreating episodes from biographies of artists from Giotto to Rembrandt. Of particular import is the recognition that the majority of these interpretations adhere to traditional literary topoi and biographical patterns, such as the artist as madman, bohemian, child prodigy, or sexual deviant. These later interpretations present themselves as history, but, in actuality, fact, fiction, and fabrication are inextricably entwined in the nineteenth-century Nachleben of the Early Modern artist. How do we reconcile contradictions between the popular perception of the artist and historical evidence?
"This session seeks to examine the reinvention of the Old Master from an interdisciplinary standpoint, starting with a basic question: what can these later "lives" offer the modern historian? To what degree were artists subject to myth and to what degree did the artist shape his own mythic persona? How has modern scholarship been colored by Romantic interpretation - and in what ways is Romantic interpretation itself dependent on tropes created by the Early Modern biographers and artists? This panel welcomes papers addressing these issues in relation to all forms of textual, verbal, and/or visual material. Please submit an abstract of no more than 150 words and a short CV via e-mail to Dr. Mia Reinoso Genoni at genoniRSA@gmail.com by May 23, 2008.
Held 2 February 2008. Annual, about the same time every year. See the Web site for full information.
RENAISSANCE NEOPATONISM AND THE ARTS19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "Whereas [SIC] the impact of Neoplatonism on Renaissance culture has always been emphasized by researchers of the history of literature and philosophy, it has been repeatedly ignored or even challenged by art historians. With regard to Michelangelo's art, for instance, the influence of Neoplatonism has been rejected alltogether by Eugenio Garin and Horst Bredekamp, although his lyrics bespeak a thorough knowledge of neoplatonic theories. Apart from the disregard of the results of research done in other fields, the reason for this seems to be the misconception that the interpreter of Renaissance art must decide between Neoplatonism and Christian Orthodoxy although it is one of the most outstanding characteristics of Neoplatonism to successfully connect philosophy with Christian tradition. This call welcomes papers on all aspects regarding the interrelation or non-relation between philosophy and art in the Renaissance, be it case studies or more general approaches. Please send abstract of no more than 150 words and curriculum vitae to:
- Berthold Hub/ETH Zurich:
- berthold.hub@gta.arch.ehtz.ch
- Deadline: 15 May 2008
"Since 1954, the Renaissance Society of America has been the leading organization in the Americas for the interdisciplinary study of the period 1300-1650 in Western history."
23-26 October 2008. St. Louis, MO. Abstracts were due March 15, 2008. For more information please see the Web page.
6 June 2008 University of Reading, UK. "Postgraduate students are invited to submit proposals on any aspect of Italian Studies. Papers may be given in Italian or English and should last approximately 20 minutes. Abstracts were due Friday 4 ApriL 2008 to: Paolo Russo and Sergio Rigoletto at the following e-mail address: p.russo@reading.ac.uk (please specify "Abstract submission" as the subject of your e-mail).
?Held 6-8 March 2008. Kansas City, Missouri. The deadline for abstracts was December 1, 2007.
10-12 July 2008 To be held in Dublin. Headquartered in London. "The Society has a limited number of bursaries for postgraduate students who would like to attend the conference." Also publishes Renaissance Studies. Check the growing Web site for more information. Proposals for papers and panels are invited for the third interdisciplinary conference of the Society for Renaissance Studies. The Society would welcome papers on any aspects of Renaissance history, literature, philosophy, music, art, architecture and other artefacts. Proposals are welcome from both established scholars and post-graduates working in the field. Proposals were due Friday 7 September 2007.
SOUTH CENTRAL RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE6-8 March 2008. Annual. Kansas City, MO. The deadline for abstracts is December 1, 2007. Check the Web site for more information. Same as the SOCIETY FOR RENAISSANCE ART CONFERENCE, looks like.
STUDY OF RENAISSANCE INVENTORIES19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "In light of the efflorescence of scholarly interest in early modern collecting, this panel will examine the historical documents that provide us with some of the most salient information about collections' contents and organization. Inventories have long been used by scholars to assess the size and composition of collections, to track the provenance of objects and to better understand the tastes of a particular patron. We contend that the study of inventories can, in addition to opening new avenues of investigations into collecting practices, also incite practical and methodological questions pertinent to the study of Renaissance art, science and culture. The sorts of inventories we foresee examining include inventories of palaces, libraries, collections, studioli, Kunstkammern, ships, etc. Among the questions this panel seeks to ask are: How did inventories function? What can inventories tell us about the storage, display and movement of objects? How can we track the exchange of objects between collections through the study of inventories? How can we translate the language of inventories? We welcome case studies of individual inventories as well as papers that examine methodological concerns bearing on the study of various inventories. Please send a 150 [SIC] abstract, paper title and CV to both Jessica Keating (j-keating@northwestern.edu) and Lia Markey (lmarkey@uchicago.edu). Deadline: 16 May 2008. Speakers must be members of RSA at the time of the Conference.
[TEXTILES] TOWARDS AN ICONOLOGY OF THE TEXTILE19-21 March 2009 UCLA & The Getty Museum, Malibu. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting. "The fabrication of textiles is one of the oldest cultural technologies. Nevertheless, relatively little art historical research is being done on textiles. The objective of the proposed RSA session is to investigate the historical meanings and functions of the textile medium in early modern art and architecture. The exploration of this specific medium is meant as to contribution to a historical theory or iconology of the textile. The interdisciplinary study of such a textile discourse may touch on:
the myths of the origins of the textile (Arachne etc.), the textuality and narrativity of the textile (the metaphor of the textus, narrative structures in tapestry cycles etc.), the transmediality of the textile (painted or sculpted textiles etc.), the textile constructions of space (ephemeral textile architectures etc.), the sacred textiles (liturgical functions of textiles, the idea of the veil, etc.), the genders of the textile (female virtues associated to the craft etc.), and the modernity of the textile arts (a critical history of textile studies).Scholars of any discipline interested in a historical reflection on the textile are invited to submit a paper title, a 150 words abstract, and a short CV to Tristan Weddigen (weddigen@gmx.ch) by 15 May 2008.
Held 3 March 2007. Annual? Web site seldom updated in time for submissions; you ask them why. For more information, please attempt to see the Web site.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA COLLEGE AT WISE
MEDIEVAL-RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE18-20 September 2008. Wise, Virginia. "The University of Virginia's College at Wise Medieval-Renaissance Conference promotes scholarly discussion in all disciplines of Medieval and Renaissance studies. The conference welcomes proposals for papers and panels on Medieval or Renaissance literature, language, history, philosophy, science, pedagogy, and the arts. Abstracts for papers should be 250 or fewer words. Proposals for panels should include: a) title of the panel; b) names and institutional affiliations of the chair and all panelists; c) abstracts for papers to be presented (250 or fewer words). For more information, please visit the website. Deadline for Submissions: June 10, 2008.
Something Else to Do: Blogs and Suchlike