CALL FOR PAPERS

42nd International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan 
University, Kalamazoo, Michigan

May 10-13, 2007



Sacred, Corporate, and Civic Spaces in Italian Art and Architecture

Sponsor: Italian Art Society

Organizer: Kirstin Noreen (Loyola Marymount University)





Session I. Confraternity Headquarters

Chair: Phil Earenfight (Dickinson College)



The late Middle Ages in Italy witnessed the widespread emergence and 
rapid development of confraternities (compagnia, scuole).  These lay 
pious brotherhoods were designed to provide members with the opportunity 
to serve god and their fellow citizens by singing devotions (laudese), 
performing acts of mercy (charitable), or self-mortification 
(flagellant).  A confraternity’s location within the city, proximity or 
access to neighboring institutions or important sites and rituals, 
architectural design, building materials, and decorations could help to 
shape how the confraternity identified itself publicly and served the 
citizenry.  This session seeks papers that address such factors and shed 
further light on how confraternities prior to 1500 conveyed their 
identity through their architecture – or lack thereof.  Papers that 
consider confraternities in lesser studied regions of Italy are 
particularly welcome.





Session II. Monastic Communities

Chair: William Hood (Oberlin College)



This session focuses on communities of religious – monks and nuns, 
friars and sisters – as audiences for monumental works of art.  Our 
interest is not so much in the concerns of lay patrons, however closely 
associated they may have been with the community.  Rather, we seek to 
understand how the particular ethos of a specific religious community 
inflected the creation of works of art designed to embody monastic ideals.





Session III. Hospitals and Acts of Mercy

Chair: Eunice Howe (University of Southern California)



In early Christianity, spiritual and physical healing were intertwined, 
nourished by charitable acts.  Medieval hospitals continued the 
tradition of healing the soul as well as the body through an 
ever-expanding set of practices.  These sites did not belong to the 
modern category of the therapeutic institution.  Hospices, monastic 
foundations, asylums and other kinds of institutions took various forms 
and functioned in a multiplicity of ways.  This session considers how 
art and architecture defined such institutions, and seeks contributions 
from a wide chronological and geographical spectrum.





Session IV. Civic Spaces

Chairs: Alick M. McLean (Syracuse University in Florence); Barbara 
Deimling (Syracuse University in Florence)



In his 1936 “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” 
Walter Benjamin differentiated between the use of art in his vision of a 
Marxist society and that of a fascist one.  Fascists render politics 
aesthetic, whereas one should really be politicizing art.  This session 
seeks papers addressing a similar polarity between politics and art in 
the civic spaces of Italy’s city republics.  To what degree were 
piazzas, streets, monuments and rituals aesthetic props for urban 
governments?  Were they used as instruments for political 
enfranchisement or disenfranchisement?





Please send 1 page abstracts by September 15, 2006 via email to:

Kirstin Noreen: [log in to unmask]



Additional information on the Italian Art Society can be found at 
http://faculty.vassar.edu/jamusacc/IAS/iashome.htm

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Aeolian Winds and the Spirit in Renaissance Architecture (Hardcover)
by Barbara Kenda
     * Hardcover: 192 pages
     * Publisher: Routledge,an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd 
(Oct 2006)
     * Language English
     * ISBN: 0415398037

Written by scholars of international stature, "Aeolian Winds and the 
Spirit in Renaissance Architecture" presents studies of Renaissance 
pneumatology exploring the relationship between architecture and the 
disciplines of art and science. One of the principle goals of 
Renaissance architects was to augment the powers of pneuma so as to 
foster the art of well-being. Central to the study of pneumatic 
architecture are six Italian villas connected together by a ventilating 
system of caves and tunnels, including Eolia, in which Trento 
established an academic circle of scholars that included Palladio, Tazzo 
and Ruzzante. Picking up on current interest in environmental issues, 
"Aeolian Winds and the Spirit in Renaissance Architecture" reintroduces 
Renaissance perspectives on the key relationships in environmental 
issues between architecture and art and science. This beautifully 
illustrated and unprecedented study will illuminate the studies of any 
architecture or Renaissance student or scholar.



Curiosity and Wonder from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment 
(Hardcover) by R.J.W. Evans and Alexander Marr
     * Hardcover: 280 pages
     * Publisher: Ashgate (28 Aug 2006)
     * Language English
     * ISBN: 0754641023

'Curiosity' and 'wonder' are topics of increasing interest and 
importance to Renaissance and Enlightenment historians. Conspicuous in a 
host of disciplines from history of science and technology to history of 
art, literature, and society, both have assumed a prominent place in 
studies of the Early Modern period. This volume brings together an 
international group of scholars to investigate the various 
manifestations of, and relationships between, 'curiosity' and 'wonder' 
from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Focused case studies on texts, 
objects and individuals explore the multifaceted natures of these 
themes, highlighting the intense fascination and continuing scrutiny to 
which each has been subjected over three centuries. From instances of 
curiosity in New World exploration to the natural wonders of 
18th-century Italy, "Curiosity and Wonder from the Renaissance to the 
Enlightenment" locates its subjects in a broad geographical and 
disciplinary terrain. Taken together, the essays presented here 
construct a detailed picture of two complex themes, demonstrating the 
extent to which both have been transformed and reconstituted, often with 
dramatic results.


Science and Technology in Medieval European Life (Greenwood Press Daily 
Life Through History S.) (Hardcover) by Jeffrey R. Wigelsworth
     * Hardcover: 224 pages
     * Publisher: Greenwood Press (Sep 2006)
     * Language English
     * ISBN: 0313337543

Despite the popular view of medieval Europe as a "Dark Age" of 
intellectual stagnation, scientific and technological achievement 
thrived during this time. Churches and castles remain lasting testaments 
to the ingenuity of that period in history. Through carefully chosen 
examples which are presented in easily accessible thematic chapters, 
"Science and Technology in Medieval European Life" demonstrates how 
these two aspects of human achievement, far from being ivory-tower 
enterprises, affected the daily life of people in medieval Europe. These 
topics will also resonate with modern readers in their own daily lives. 
This reference work begins with an historical introduction that situates 
medieval science and technology into its social, intellectual and 
religious context. Among the varied topics found in the chapters are: 
armour manufacture, waterwheels and waterpower, chimneys, stained glass, 
communication technology, ship building, medicine - both academic and 
empirical, mechanical clocks, calendar creation, and astrology. For 
those interested in pursuing further research into this area of history, 
the book concludes with a chronology of events, a suggested list of 
further reading and a glossary.