CALL FOR PAPERS:

'Novelty, Trade and Exchange in the Renaissance Interior',
Victoria & Albert Museum, London,
24-25 June 2003

Call for Papers Deadline: 31.03.2003
Announcement ID:
http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/announce/show.cgi
ID=132413

AHRB Centre for the Study of the Domestic Interior

During the Renaissance, Italians travelled extensively and individuals often
were based in foreign branches of Italian companies. The goods they acquired
and brought home helped to establish new fashions and to generate a taste for
novelty. The house and its contents reflected and supported 'national' and
international trade and exchange: apart from artefacts produced in Italian
centres, Flemish tapestries, metalwork and paintings, German stoneware, English
pewter, Baltic amber, Spanish pottery and leather goods all featured in the
Italian interior. But goods were not only imported from Europe: Islamic
carpets, textiles, ceramics, metalwork and other objects, whether purchased or
looted, also figured prominently.

This two-day Symposium is the first in a series of events related to 'The
Domestic Interior in Italy, 1400-1600', a research project culminating in a
major exhibition at the V&A in 2006 and an associated publication (see
details below). 'Novelty, Trade and Exchange in the Renaissance Interior' will
explore the general question of novelty in domestic goods. In addition to
examining the stylistic influences of imported wares on local production, and
the economics of trade and manufacture, it will focus on the movements of both
goods and people across and into Italy. Fundamental questions the Symposium
will focus on include:

· What changed and what remained the same in the layout and furnishing of
domestic interiors

· How did novelty affect the look of the interior, the types of objects found
within it and the range of domestic activities

· To what extent did innovation reflect the influence of objects, techniques,
people and ways of living from outside Italy or from other historical periods

Was there a resistance to some 'foreign' things (including exotica, antiques,
objects belonging to ethnic minorities etc.)

· Can we map a geography and chronology of influences
What places were most
important and when

· How were 'foreign' objects appropriated
Did they bring with them 'foreign'
ways of living or was their use reworked to accord with local practices

· Was the urban domestic interior a particular site of 'foreign' influences

More so than the court, than religious and secular public spaces or than villas
and rural houses

Proposals for 30 minute papers are invited from scholars from a variety of
academic disciplines. Please send an abstract of 250-500 words, together with a
brief curriculum vitae, to the address below. The deadline for submissions is
March 31, 2003. For further information, please contact

Flora Dennis,
Research Department, Victoria & Albert Museum,
South Kensington,
London SW7 2RL,
flora.dennisrca.ac.uk,
0207 942 2598
or access the website.

--

Marta Ajmar
Research Department Victoria & Albert Museum
South Kensington, London SW7 2RL
Email: m.ajmarvam.ac.uk
Visit the website at
http://www.rca.ac.uk/csdi/