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New York, RSA, March 27 - 29, 2014 Renaissance Water In the globalized context of Early Modern Europe, water had many practical and metaphorical associations, from its role as one of the four classical elements to its use in baptism to its channeling in complex new engineering schemes to its serving as the milieu for navigation of the ever-expanding world. We invite papers from a wide range of disciplines addressing the control and uses of water, the spectacles or battles it hosted, and the metaphorical, iconographical, ritual, political or religious applications of the substance. Topics might include: waterborne festivals, fountains, or gardens rhetorics of hygiene, cleanliness, and purification focusing on water floods real and imagined state or religious rituals involving the sea or water laws regarding water use, management, or pollution the representation of water or water-related subjects in the visual arts Please send a 150-word abstract in English and a CV of 300 words or less to Mark Rosen ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and Felicia Else ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) by Friday May 24. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CFP: Foreigners in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Rome Renaissance Society of America Conference, New York Immigrants played a significant role in the development of the Early Modern European city. In sixteenth and seventeenth century Rome, foreign artists, patrons, and communities shaped the emerging capital city with major art and architectural projects. The label “foreigner” was given not only to people from beyond the Italian peninsula but also those from places within, such as Lombardy and Venice. All foreign nationals faced challenges adapting to their new home. They sought a difficult balance between maintaining strongly valued traditions from their native culture while incorporating traditions of their new surroundings—a process sociologist would recognize as cultural bartering and borrowing. The choices foreign nationals made regarding what cultural traditions they were willing to surrender and what aspects of Roman culture they adopted was revealing. This panel seeks papers examining foreign artists or patrons in sixteenth and seventeenth century Rome with particular attention to the ways they negotiated between their native cultural identity and the cultural traditions of their adoptive Roman home. Please email 150 word abstract in English and CV to Rose May ([log in to unmask]) and Anne Muraoka, ([log in to unmask]) by Friday, May 31 with the subject heading “Foreigners in Rome.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Symposium - Russia, Britain and the West in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: 13 June 2013 This half-day symposium at at the Victoria and Albert Museum, organised by the Society for Court Studies, will examine the historical contexts of the objects in the exhibition ‘Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and the Russian Tsars’ (9 March–14 July 2013) through an examination of diplomacy between Russia, western Europe and England, as well as the experiences of English merchants in Russia, and English perceptions of Russian trade and its significance. Attendance is free for members, but because numbers are strictly limited registration is required. To register and to see the programme, please visit http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5740847028#. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~