CFP: Moralists and Misanthrops in 17th century Italy

‘I tempi nostri, Non producono Eroi, come I vetusti’ exclaimed Salvator Rosa, whilst Shakespeare, in Timon of Athens, lamented, ‘The strain of man’s bred out/Into baboon and monkey’. In this panel I should like to explore the pessimism of much 17th century Italian art and literature, and the rhetoric of resistance that opposed the celebratory quality of the art of court and church.
Possible topics might include art and satire, and the traditional targets of satire, such as envy, fortune, hypocrisy; the self representation of the satiric artist or poet; representations of those ancient philosophers who had derided the world (Diogenes, for example) and of those old testament prophets who lamented the evils of the day; denunciations of war, and of the present calamities of Italy; the praise of solitude as criticism of courtly luxury; the vanitas, and the futility of all worldly endeavour; the motif of the world upside down and the use of animal imagery.

I invite abstracts from both literary scholars and art historians engaging with these, or related topics. Please send abstracts, of no more than 250 words, and a brief CV to Helenlangdonhotmail.com by 2nd June 2013.