Call for Papers
Devotion, Poetry, and the Visual Arts in Early Modern Italy

Session at the 2014 Renaissance Society of America conference

The relationship of poetry and the visual arts in the early modern
period has often been understood in terms of the humanist debate over
the paragone and theories of ut pictura poesis and ekphrasis. Poetry and
art, however, could function together or independently as theology and
as instruments of devotion. Thus far, the interaction of the arts and
poetry with contemporary religion has not been systematically studied.
This panel invites papers that explore the complex relationship of
poetry and the visual arts to the contemporary religious and devotional
practices of the early modern period. Paper topics might include, but
are not limited to:

- the art of poets/the poetry of artists
- poetry or art that describe or depict devotion
- early modern images and laude
- the conjunction of word and image in devotion or devotional aids
- treatises or sermons on art, poetry and piety (prescriptive or
descriptive)
- changing forms or uses of art/poetry in devotion in the period
- art and poetry devised for thaumaturgic, prophylactic or mystical
purposes
- the role of art and poetry in the creation of sacred space
- arts and poetry in the Pope’s court/monastic orders

Papers may discuss corporate or personal piety, and works destined for
private or public readership/viewing.

Please send a 150-word abstract and a one-page CV to Emily Fenichel at
eal4cvirginia.edu or to Sarah Rolfe Prodan at sarah.rolfeutoronto.ca
by 20 May 2013.


"Theories which bring into connection with each other modes of thought
and feeling, periods of taste, forms of art and poetry, which the
narrowness of men’s minds constantly tends to oppose to each other, have
a great stimulus for the intellect, and are almost always worth
understanding." - Walter Pater