Fifth Distinguished WAI Lecture on Renaissance Art and Culture
Raphael’s Gift: Friendship and Painted Art Theory in the Renaissance

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pfisterer, Chair for the General Art History with a special focus on Italian art, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München
Director, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, München

Friday, 23 February 2024, 7.30-9.30 pm, UTC+8 Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, onsite in Shanghai & via Zoom
[11.30 am to 1.30 pm UTC+1, London; 12.30 to 2.30 pm, UTC+2, Berlin; 6.30 to 8.30 am, UTC-4, New York, Washington D.C.]

Raphael’s previously little-explored Madonna-painting, today in the Louvre, with its preserved cover is interpreted as a gift of friendship to Cardinal Bibbiena. The aim of the lecture is not only to demonstrate that Raphael designed the painting as a ‘painted theory of art’. The work and its context also require us to rethink modern categories of attribution and our ideas about the ‘oeuvre’ of a Renaissance artist.

Speaker’s short bio: Ulrich Pfisterer has taught Art History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich since 2006. He received his ‘Dr. phil.’ from the University of Göttingen (1997) and completed his ‘Habilitation’ at the University of Hamburg (2006). Fellowships allowed him to research at the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence, the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel, the Getty Research Center in L.A. and at CASVA/The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. His interests encompass the fields of early modern art in Europe and beyond, as well as the methodology and historiography of Art History. In 2012, he co-organized an exhibition on ‘Ideals and Idols’, which thematized the reception of non-European religious artifacts in European books and book illustrations from the 15th century up to the to 18th-century publications of Montfaucon, Picart and Lafitau. He is currently directing two research projects: one on the ‘episteme of lines’ and drawing books from c. 1525–1925, and another on concepts and images of the ruler's body in early modern Europe. Pfisterer has published books on – among other subjects – Donatello, art literature and theory in the Italian Renaissance, the social uses of Renaissance medals in Italy, the Sistine Chapel, and the interplay of concepts of erotic or biological procreativity and artistic creativity in early modern Europe. He is also the General Editor of the collected writings of Aby Warburg and he co-edited the volume Fragmente zur Ausdruckskunde (2015). Currently, he is preparing a collected volume of essays on global artistic exchange and contact zones from c. 1300-1650.

Welcoming Remarks & Moderator: Prof. Dr. LaoZhu (ZHU Qingsheng), Peking University; Director, WAI Shanghai

Discussant: Prof. Dr. HUANG Xiaoyin (Ph.D., Queen’s, CA), School of Art and Humanities, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
------------------------------------

In addition to the Distinguished WAI lecture, Professor Pfisterer will deliver a public lecture at Peking University and teach a 3-day seminar on Jan van Kessel at China Academy of Art, Hangzhou:

Lecture: Art in the Scholar’s Study. Work-Life-Balance in the Renaissance
2-4 pm, February 20, Attic Room, School of Arts Peking University, onsite & live streaming

The study rooms of the Renaissance are often seen as centers of science, education, virtue and competition. All the more surprising are a number of objects that were apparently placed in these study rooms: small sculptures of animals, depictions of children playing, nymphs and satyrs, even erotic scenes. The lecture presents the spectrum of images which was presented in a study room of 15th and 16th century Italy. It argues that these surprising objects and themes can be explained by the attempt to offer relaxation from hard work. The 'mental well-being' of the scholar is thus thematized for the first time in the Renaissance.

------------------------------------

Intensive Seminar: How to Categorize the World in the 17th Century. Jan van Kessel paints Europe, Asia, Africa and America
9 am – 3.30 pm, February 27-29, Room 1C504, Advanced School of Art and Humanities, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, onsite

In the 1660s, the Dutch painter Jan van Kessel created spectacular representations of the four known parts of the world. These paintings show the flora and fauna and the most important cities of the continents, but they also depict the different religions, forms of government, cultures and art forms. For all his Eurocentrism, Kessel demonstrates a remarkably interested and precise view of the world's artifacts in particular. The seminar examines global exchange, knowledge and misunderstandings in the early modern period.

2023-24 Distinguished WAI Lecture Series on Renaissance Art and Culture: Established in 2020, the World Art History Institute (WAI) at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) has firmly established itself as a leading research institution closely affiliated with the Comité International d’Histoire de l’Art (CIHA). Its primary mission is to promote World Art Studies in China and foster collaboration within the global network of art history institutions, museums, archives, and libraries. In commemoration of its founding, WAI Shanghai will inaugurate the Distinguished WAI Lecture Series in September 2023. The annual program for the 2023-24 academic year will focus on Renaissance art and culture, featuring twelve world-leading scholars who have made significant contributions to various fields of Renaissance studies. These contributions will be presented through a variety of academic activities, including public lectures, roundtable discussions, collaborative workshops, book launch events, translation initiatives, and publication projects. The lecture series will take place in multiple Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shenyang. See more details: https://arthist.net/archive/39988

Guest Convenor, WAI Annual Program "Renaissance Art and Culture" (2023-24): Prof. Dr. Lianming Wang, City University of Hong Kong

Registration
If you are residing outside mainland China and interested in attending this or other WAI lectures, please register for virtual participation by copy-pasting the link to your browser: https://forms.gle/LAj5SkGCuy7Pgu1x9

Registered attendees will receive timely email notifications containing Zoom links before each scheduled event.

World Art History Institute, Shanghai International Studies University
Website: wai.shisu.edu.cn
E-Mail: waishisu.edu.cn (for general inquiries)

Institutional Collaborators & Sponsors
Advanced School of Arts and Humanities, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou
College of Humanities, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, Shenyang
Peking University Image Lab
Wu Zuoren International Foundation of Fine Arts, Beijing
The Commercial Press, Ltd., Shanghai – China Publishing Group Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Museum
The Italian Government Institute of Culture, Consulate General of Italy in Shanghai
iM Motors, SAIC Motor
Bund One Art Museum, Shanghai
Shanghai Duolun Museum of Art