Early Modern Gardens: Tamed Nature as the Mirror of Power.

Panel at the Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting 2014

Studies on gardens usually take an historical approach to the creation and evolution of a national style and often neglect the gardens’ intimate relationship with their surroundings – specifically the grounds and buildings – and reflection of their patron’s persona.

This panel aims to look at how, through the deliberate transformation of specific grounds (either by controlling nature and/or re-appropriating earlier designs), Early Modern princely gardens became the logical extension of their patrons’ private and public personas as well as the architecture of the building(s) to which they were closely connected.

Potential topics may include the connections between royal authority and the assertion of human control over nature, gardens as outdoor Wunderkammers, gardens as backdrops for festivities and political meetings, and others.

Please submit your proposal and abstract (max 150 words), a short CV and A/V requirements to the organizers Sigrid Ruby (sigrid.rubykunstgeschichte.uni-giessen.de) and Laurent Odde (oddekutztown.edu) no later than June 5