Call for Papers
THE EARLY DISCOVERY OF MEDIEVAL ART BY TRAVELLERS LOOKING FOR CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY IN SOUTHERN EUROPE
(FROM THE 17TH CENTURY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 19TH CENTURY)
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II
20-21 NOVEMBER 2023
Materials Due 15 March 2023
Organizers: Vinni Lucherini and Stefano D’Ovidio
Scientific committee: Xavier Barral i Altet, Paola D’Alconzo, Tanja Michalsky, Alessandro Taddei, Arnaud Timbert
The conference is part of the international research project DIOMEDA – The Discovery of Medieval Art while Looking for Antiquities (P.I. Vinni Lucherini), sponsored by the University of Naples Federico II and the Compagnia di San Paolo within the STAR Plus program that supports advanced and competitive research at European level. The project is elaborated in cooperation with Sapienza Università di Roma and Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max-Planck Institute for Art History, Rome.
Since at least the 17th century and throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, travel played an essential role in the rediscovery of medieval art. Cultured men from all over Europe visited Mediterranean countries, not only Italy and Greece, but also modern-day Croatia, Turkey, as well as the Iberian Peninsula and Southern France, to see Greek and Roman monuments, but they were often confronted with artefacts and buildings from later centuries. How did they describe medieval monuments that fell before their eyes while they were in search of Classical Antiquity, and sometimes were confused with ancient monuments? What kind of language did they employ to describe them? What interpretative categories did they adopt to define them? What aesthetic or historical opinions did they have on the Middle Ages in comparison with Antiquity, which was the main goal of their journey?
The purpose of the present conference is to evaluate the attitudes towards medieval heritage by authors prepared to study Antiquity and to verify their impact on the development of a new discipline specifically dedicated to the History of Medieval Art, as it appeared in Europe from 1820’s onward.
We invite papers with a multidisciplinary perspective from experts in history, art history, archaeology, linguistics, literature, anthropology, and any other disciplines dealing with the history of travel and art historiography, both on single case studies and more general overviews. Areas of interest may include:
- The perception of medieval art and architecture by European antiquarian travellers to Mediterranean countries from the 17th century to the early 19th century.
- The language adopted to describe medieval monuments, as well as the formulation of a specific vocabulary (definitions, lemmas, technicalities), especially when borrowed from other disciplines.
- The elaboration of interpretative categories to define medieval art and architecture, especially in comparison with that from Antiquity and the Renaissance.
- The visual sources on medieval monuments featuring in travel accounts and descriptions, historical treatises, and pamphlets, especially if analysed in relation with their textual counterpart.
- The social, ideological, aesthetic, and political framework that supported the historical interpretation of medieval art and architecture.
The conference will be held at the University of Naples Federico II on 20-21 November 2023. The deadline for proposals is 15 March 2023. Applicants are kindly requested to send a title and an abstract (max 300 words), together with a short curriculum vitæ, to the e-mail address: diomedaconference2023@gmail.com. Proposals will be evaluated, and the applicants will receive an answer by mid-April 2023. The organization will cover coffee/lunch breaks. Travel and accommodation will be at the charge of the participants.
For a PDF of the Call for Papers, click here.