Call for Papers

Renaissance Society of America Conference
8-10 April 2010
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Isola San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice

Panel Title:

Portrayals of Love, Friendship, and Desire in Italian Art around 1500

One of the most important yet enigmatic topics of Italian Renaissance
art is the iconography of love. Numerous fundamental studies of the past
decades have broadened our knowledge and perspective. However, many
works of art still ‘resist’ convincing interpretation – especially in
(ideal) portraiture or non narrative images in close-up. There is a
clear need for further analysis on the symbols, metaphors, and
metonymies of the literary love discourse – and its plurality of
concepts – as reflected in visual images of love and friendship. What
certainly deserves more detailed attention is how and why structures of
devotional images intermingle with profane imagery (and vice versa).
Another desideratum of central relevance are close-readings regarding
the character of the emotions and gestures depicted in images, of the
material structures, and of the rendering of surface qualities, which
often initiate and reflect a relationship of desire between image and
beholder. In addition, very little is known about the occasions related
to the commissions of images of love and friendship, about their
functions, their handling as well as hanging/positioning – aspects,
which may change interpretations considerably.

This panel encourages papers offering new insights into the iconography
of love, friendship and desire in Italian art from 1450-1530. We welcome
contributions discussing (ideal) portraits and non narrative images in
different visual media (painting, sculpture, relief, medals, graphic
arts etc.) with reference to:
- open questions of iconography, including analysis not only of common
symbols but also of metaphors and metonymies in Renaissance love poetry
and literature (Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, Petrarchan)
- the visual structures of images of love and friendship and related
ambivalences between the devotional and the profane
- investigations of emotions depicted or omitted in images, considering
their significance for the emotional and aesthetic impact on the beholder
- the use of colour and/or the rendering of material surface according
to the depicted subject, provoking a relationship of desire between
beholder and image (their particular ‘aesthetics and ethics of effect’)
- functions, occasions, and circumstances of commissions, including the
question of images as gifts among friends and lovers, considering the
heterosexual, homosexual and homosocial relations possibly involved

Scholars interested in a closer reflection and discussion of these
topics are invited to send an abstract (150 words maximum) for a
20-minute paper, a short cv and contact information (current
institutional affiliation, e-mail address) to the organizers before May
7, 2009.

Organizers:
Jeanette Kohl, History of Art Department, University of California,
Riverside, jkohlucr.edu
Marianne Koos, Department of Art History, University of Fribourg,
Marianne.Koosunifr.ch

Speakers must be members of the Renaissance Society of America at the
time of the conference.

Please consult the RSA website for further informations:
http//www.rsa.org

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Dr. Marianne Koos
Université de Fribourg
Département d'Histoire de l'Art et Musicologie
Avenue de l'Europe 20
CH-1700 Fribourg