Looking Backwards, Moving Forwards. Imitation and canon-making in the
Renaissance in Italy and the Netherlands

Conference at the Radboud University Nijmegen, Department of Art History (in
collaboration with the Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History)

Nijmegen, 23 November 2007

The Renaissance period is often regarded as an Art Era, wherein artists
became increasingly self-conscious. They started to reflect on their
position as an artist in the context of previous and current artistic
practice. This reflection found expression in both text and works of art.
Artists fashioned themselves in their works of art, consciously shaping
their styles and reflecting on art as art. As a part of this, artists
referred deliberately to other artists and other art works. Our conference
will be devoted to these strategic references in relation to the artistic
canon and the shaping of it. In the sixteenth-century, both in Northern and
Southern Europe, the artistic canon was generally discussed, sometimes even
heavily debated, but not yet firmly established. One question we would like
to address is how various kinds of interpictorial references are related to
the canonization of certain images and artists. Did artists refer to or
quote from art works of (presumed) canonical artists to increase their own
status? What was the effect of these references on the original works or on
the masters referred to? Did their quotations contribute to the canonization
of the quoted? And if this is the case, did it change the perception of the
canonical artist?

Program

9.45 - 10.15 am
Registration and coffee

10.15 - 10.30 am
Reindert Falkenburg (Leiden University), Introduction

10.30 - 11.15 am
Maria H. Loh (University College London), "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye":
Repetition and the Aesthetics of the Same but Different

11.15 - 12.00 am
Valeska Von Rosen (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), Caravaggios ironische
Bildzitate

12.00 - 12.15 pm
Questions

12.15 - 1.30 pm
Lunch

1.30 - 2.00 pm
Matthijs Ilsink (Radboud University Nijmegen), "Quis nouus hic Hieronymus
Orbi Boschius": Pieter Bruegel as the new Jheronimus Bosch

2.00 - 2.30 pm
Joris van Grieken (Catholic University Leuven), Contextualising copies:
Investigating copies and reproductions after Early-Netherlandish masters in
the light of the reception of their art in the second half of the 16th
century

2.30 - 3.00 pm
Volker Manuth (Radboud University Nijmegen), From Prague to Amsterdam:
Aspects of the Dürer-Renaissance in Dutch Painting of the Golden Age

3.00 - 3.15 pm
Questions

3.15 - 3.45 pm
Tea and Coffee

3.45 - 4.15 pm
Joost Keizer (Leiden University), On the Origins of "Art": Michelangelo's
Battle of Cascina

4.15 - 4.45 pm
Arvi Wattel (Radboud University Nijmegen / Johns Hopkins University,
Baltimore), Transferring the model: Raphael's designs and the Ferrarese
response: 1540-1543

4.45 - 5.15 pm
Bernard Aikema (Università di Verona), Concluding remarks and roundtable
discussion

5.15 pm
Reception

Registration: congreskunstgeschiedenislet.ru.nl

For more information, see our website:
http://www.ru.nl/kunstgeschiedenis