The Moral Nature of the Image During the Renaissance
Important Message Post Conference
Sadly, we cannot give any refunds for those who, for whatever reason, missed the conference. Payments went towards catering, which was supplied according to the numbers of delegates booked.
Conference
'ART AND MORALITY IN THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE'
Sainsbury Wing auditorium, National Gallery, London
Speakers:
Mary Carruthers, Dallas Denery, Kate Dunton, David Freedberg, Robert Maniura, Scott Nethersole, Phillippa Plock, Gervase Rosser, Barbara Maria Stafford, David Summers, Timothy Verdon
A two day international conference to be held at the National Gallery, London, 16-17 NOVEMBER 2007
The Christian defence of the image was grounded on its moral usefulness, as is well known, but it is less frequently noted that humanist writers on art, from Alberti to Vincenzo Borghini, were equally clear that the primary function of the image was its moral utile. This ensured that the moral purpose of the image continued to underlie assumptions about the nature of the work of art throughout the Renaissance period. To explore some of the ways in which this informed Renaissance visualities is the aim of this conference which will hear contributions from leading scholars in Europe and North America.
The first task of the conference will be to trace the development of moral modes of viewing from the medieval into the renaissance period, with a particular emphasis on the Christian legacy of spiritual seeing. The second aim is to clarify the ethical role of memory and imagination, and to consider how contemporary models of the mind may have shaped concerns about the moral (or immoral) impact of the image. Leading on from this, the third aim is to examine the way in which the renaissance viewer negotiated violent and erotic images and to what extent this was determined by their gender and social status. Finally, the conference will consider the implications of moral viewing for current debates within and beyond the discipline of art history, with a particular focus on the relationship between the thinking brain and the feeling body.
Important Message Post Conference
Sadly, we cannot give any refunds for those who, for whatever reason, missed the conference. Payments went towards catering, which was supplied according to the numbers of delegates booked.
Programme
Download programme and speakers' biographies
Ticket Prices:
Friday and Saturday £30 full rate / £15 student concessions (to obtain student concession, please enclose a photocopy of student identification with booking form)
Day rate £15 / £7.50 (student concessions)
To book, please print out the booking form and post to Donna Roberts, Department of Art History and Theory, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ.
Word Booking Form for emailing
WITHIN UK, PLEASE ENCLOSE STAMPED ADDRESSED ENVELOPE IN ORDER TO OBTAIN RECEIPT OF PAYMENT AND CONFIRMATION OF BOOKING.
IF CONTACTING FROM OUTSIDE UK, PLEASE COPY BOOKING FORM AND EITHER FAX IT OR SEND IT AS AN EMAIL ATTACHMENT.
Please address any enquiries to Dr Donna Roberts : dmrobe@essex.ac.uk
Tel: 01206 872996
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Past events:
Fallacies of Naturalism and the Renaissance
A 2 day symposium for postgraduate and recent doctoral graduates which was held at the University of Essex, 1-2 April 2006.
In our first symposium we aimed to take up Leo Steinberg's prompt to go beyond the 'fallacy of naturalism' and posit a plurality of visual practices and theories that shared a common belief in the moral basis of sight and seeing.
Papers:
Opening remarks, Professor Thomas Puttfarken
Dr Kate Dunton, University of Essex, ‘Wounds, Wombs, Tombs, and Tabernacles: reading through the body’.
K.D. Grasby, University of East Anglia, ‘How to View a Sacred Life: Fiammenghino’s Procession with the Holy Nail’.
Scott Nethersole, Courtauld Institute of Art, ‘Viewing Violence: bestiality and civility in the relief panels of the Palazzo Scala’.
Elena Lazzarini, University of Leicester, ‘The Moral Implications of the Nude in Renaissance Italy’.
Dr Phillippa Plock, University of Leeds / Birkbeck College, ‘Responding to Cigoli’s Sacrifice of Isaac: class, gender and moral viewing in early seventeenth-century Rome’.
Dr David L. Packwood, University of Warwick, ‘Christian Perception and Moral Order in Poussin’s Flight into Egypt’.
Dr Opher Mansour, Courtauld Institute of Art, ‘Disciplining the Eye: G.B. Agucchi and the erotics of painting in the early seicento.’
Christian Nielsen, University of Essex, ‘The Devotio Moderna and Realism’.
Dr Deborah Povey, University of Essex, ‘Reflected Spaces: mirrors, morals and presence in early Netherlandish painting’.
Yvonne Owens, University College London, ‘Hans Baldung Grien’s Diabolical Perspectives’.
Dr Lisa Wade, University of Essex, ‘On Justice, Joy and Sorrow: Christian responses to the imagery of Renaissance hell’.
Steven Stowell, University of Oxford, ‘Giorgio Vasari’s Ragionamenti and the Truth Hidden Beneath a Beautiful Lie’.
Dr Peter Stephan, Freiberg University, ‘From Vision to Simulation: derivations of religious imagery in Veit Harlan’s film Der Grosse König’.