5th Annual Jane Fortune Conference

The Colors of Paradise. Painting Miniatures in Italian Convents, ca. 1300-1700

This conference is co-organized by The Medici Archive Project and the Museo Nazionale di San Marco.

Since the late Medieval period, members of female religious communities have engaged in the making of small-scale paintings, or miniatures, on a wide variety of supports. Many of these miniatures were produced to ornament liturgical and devotional books; others graced objects such as candles and altar frontals. While nuns’ activity in this realm has been documented quite extensively in northern Europe, the Italian production of miniatures is less understood, aside from case studies of a few individuals such as Eufrasia Burlamacchi (1482 –1548). It is hoped that this conference will not only consolidate what is known about the production of miniatures by Italian nuns, but also catalyze new research. To encourage reflection upon the continuity of technical practices and models across arbitrary period divisions, the time frame of this conference has been extended broadly. Insight obtained through technical examination or the material analysis of nuns’ artworks will be especially welcome.

Papers may be given in Italian or English.

Suggested Paper Topics:

-Technical studies identifying pigments, binding media, or supports for miniatures produced in or for Italian convents
-New attributions of miniatures to Italian nun artists
-Biographical studies on Italian nuns who made miniatures
-Analyses of the visual or textual sources of the iconography of Italian nuns’ miniatures
-Miniature painting considered within the context of liturgy, devotional practices, and the organization of the conventual life of Italian nuns.
-The commissioning, gifting, and circulation of works containing Italian nuns’ miniatures
-Comparitive studies of miniatures and Italian nuns’ work in other media such as embroidery
-Considerations of the technical know-how and workshop materials available to Italian nuns, as well as their collaborations with artisans outside the convent
-Reflections on problematic issues in the current historiography on the topic, and on methodology

The conference will take place on both the afternoon of Thursday, October 11, and the morning of Friday, October 12, 2018, and it will be held in the Biblioteca di San Marco in Florence.

To apply: please send a CV and a brief abstract of your paper, in English or Italian, to: barkermedici.org by January 15, 2018. Decisions will be announced within three weeks. Limited funding may be available for travel and lodging.