A central identity in early modern Europe for fashioning one’s self as a participant in sociability and public-building was the lover (liefhebber/es, Liebhaber/in, amator, amatore/amatrice, un/une amateur). Currently the liefhebber or amateur is usually considered from the perspective of the history of connoiseurship in art. However, the lover was not only a persona in the art world. One could be a lover of alchemy, of liberty, of mathematics, or of the fatherland. The question is then, how did the identities of the lovers in one arena intersect or not with those in others? Can the agency of the lover in the development of taste, expertise, and cultural content, as one sees in art, also be seen in other endeavours? Are national or regional differences visible? What was the role of gender? Were there distinctions between lover, connoisseur or virtuoso? What were the relationships between the non-professional lover and standard arenas for the assurance of expertise, such as guilds and universities? How does the role of the lover relate to models of citizenship and participation in a market society?

We invite submissions of papers discussing the role of the lovers from all disciplines (literature, history, art history, history of science, etc) and from various areas of Europe c. 1500-1700 for a series of panels at RSA 2014. This session is arranged by Lisa Skogh and Vera Keller.

Please submit an abstract in English (150 words max.) and abbreviated CV (300 words max.) and email lisa.skogharthistory.su.se no later than June 1, 2013.