Manuscript Painting in Sicily. New Studies and Research Perspectives in the Footsteps of Angela Daneu Lattanzi.

As elsewhere, manuscript painting had a considerable development in Sicily during the Medieval and Modern Ages. An early, accomplished definition of the history of Sicilian miniature is due to the studies of Angela Daneu Lattanzi (1901-1985). Among her many publications, the catalogs I manoscritti ed incunaboli miniati della Sicilia (2 vols., 1965, 1984) and the book Lineamenti di storia della miniatura in Sicilia (1966) are still indispensable references for our studies.
While for some aspects the historiographical framework traced in them is still valid, for many others the progress of research makes updates and revisions necessary, especially in light of important studies that have been conducted in recent years in the fields of paleography, codicology and book history, such as a new systematic cataloging of manuscripts and incunabula preserved in Sicilian libraries and collections. On the art-historical side, too, there has been a relevant increase in our studies in recent decades, which have delineated a development of manuscript painting in Italy and Europe that is far more complex than it appeared sixty years ago.
Through the involvement of Italian and foreign scholars, the conference intends to verify, deepen and revise what has been known so far on illuminated manuscripts in Sicily between the Middle and the Modern Age, covering different lines of research. We invite original research papers from a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: 1) Iconographic and attributive issues and the definition of local “schools”; 2) Collecting manuscripts; 3) Presence and circulation on the island of illuminated manuscripts made elsewhere; 4) Relations between illuminated manuscripts and other figurative arts; 5) Cuttings, leaves and dismembered manuscripts; 6) Cataloguing manuscripts in Sicilian, Italian and foreign libraries.

Submissions should be received by July 15 at the following addresses: giovanni.travagliatounipa.it; andrea.improtaunicas.it. Submissions should include: a title; an abstract; a brief Curriculum Vitae. Final presentations (20 minutes) may be made in Italian, English, Spanish or French.
Remote participation is envisaged only in exceptional and justified cases.
For the publication of the Proceedings, more information will be given later to the participants. Reimbursement of accommodation expenses is expected, subject to the funding being requested.