This conference aims to explore the kinds of meaning we can reasonably ascribe to Renaissance paintings and sculpture. It responds to a situation where art works are in danger of being regarded as purely functional, decorative or objects of consumption, by asking what are the different roles of visual and textual evidence in providing intellectual engagement with a painting or sculpture. Invited speakers will give short presentations reflecting on the issues involved and the present state of thinking about Renaissance art. They will exemplify their ideas by discussing one or two particular paintings or sculptures. There will be generous time for discussion. The speakers will be Pat Rubin (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), Michael Cole (Columbia University), Paul Hills (Courtauld Institute), Amanda Lillie (University of York),Salvatore Settis (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa) and Caroline Elam (Oxford).
Registration fee (including sandwich lunch and coffee): £15.00 (£10.00 concessions).
Unfortunately this conference is now fully booked and the waiting list has also been closed.
Programme
10.00 Doors Open
10.15 Registration (Foyer) and Coffee (Common Room)
10.25 Peter Mack, Introduction and Welcome
10.45 Caroline Elam, “The Poetics of Portraiture in Fifteenth-Century Florence”
11.30 Pat Rubin, “Models, Motif and the Migration of Meaning”
12.15 Chiara Franceschini, “The parts and the whole. Visual arguments and experimental meanings”
1.00 Lunch (Common Room - Sandwich lunch included in cost of conference)
2.00 Paul Hills, “Meaningful Disruptions in Some Paintings by Lorenzo Lotto”
2.45 Michael Cole, “The vero and the ben trovato”
3.30 Tea (Common Room)
4.00 Amanda Lillie, “The Rest of the Picture”
4.45 Concluding Discussion
5.45 Conference ends followed by reception (Common Room)
- With support from the Kress Foundation