Call for Proposals for annual Renaissance Society of America conference

Los Angeles, California, March 19-21, 2009:

Caravaggio: Reflections and Refractions

Organizers: Lorenzo Pericolo, University of Montreal; and David M. Stone,
University of Delaware.

As we approach the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio's death (1610 / 2010), it
is time to reconsider the artist and his works by grappling not with the
whole torrent of new Caravaggio research but selectively, with a more
limited group of pivotal if thorny issues that we consider paramount for
renovating and re-launching studies in this field.

On reflection, we determined that four themes are particularly suited for
these discussions, as they encompass broad questions destined to change our
views on Caravaggio, his art and his followers. Therefore, we are
particularly interested in new essays:

1) that challenge the current understanding of Caravaggio¹s and his
Followers' techniques and creative process;

2) that reassess, develop or refute the nearly contradictory perception
that many scholars have had in interpreting Caravaggio: the
realist-empirical painter (well acquainted with the new experimental
methodologies in the field of the natural sciences and optics, and therefore
favoring "description" over "narrative") vs. the theological painter (deeply
influenced by the pauperism of the early seventeenth-century
Counter-Reformation, and therefore elaborating a new poetics of poverty
through his works);

3) that re-interpret Caravaggio's techniques of narration, especially
with respect to temporality, decorum and verisimilitude; or

4) that give new insight into the way Caravaggio's followers elaborated
on pictorial themes inaugurated or reformulated by their leader: fortune
tellers, cardsharps, tavern scenes, as well as the myriad tropes represented
in his religious pictures.

Proposals should be sent by May 20, 2008, to:

Prof. Lorenzo Pericolo
Prof. David M. Stone
The Getty Research Institute
Department of Art History
1200 Getty Center Drive Suite 1100
University of Delaware
Los Angeles CA 90049-1688
Newark, DE 19716

mailto:lpericologetty.edu
mailto:dmstoneudel.edu

For information on the conference and registration, go to
http://www.rsa.org