Representations of nature in seventeenth-century Italy
(Session for the RSA annual conference, Montreal, Spring 2011):

Our session will explore different modes of representing nature in art,
literature, and science in seventeenth-century Italy. In particular we
are interested in the confluences and discrepancies among allegorical,
enigmatic, philosophical, and scientific ways of representing nature.
Among the topics that papers could address: what is the role of the
traditional, allegorical representation of nature and natural phenomena
before the backdrop of the increasing authority of scientific treatises?
How do artists and poets react to the replacement of allegorical methods
of representing nature through scientific/philosophical modes of
representation? To which extent is nature recognized and represented as
the opposite or "other" (in which specific laws apply) to culture and art?
How do artists, poets, and scientists represent, analyze, or dialectize
this relationship?

We welcome paper proposals from all disciplines. Please submit an
abstract (max. 150 words) and a short CV by May 5, 2010 to:
Itay Sapir sapir.itaygmail.com, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz,
Florence, Italy
and
Eva Struhal: eva.struhalmail.utexas.edu, University of Texas at Austin