Call for Papers
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (Magnus Etruriae Dux)
Archivio di Stato di Firenze
Deadline: March 1, 2014
Much has been written about the institutional, economic and cultural
politics of Cosimo I de’ Medici’s duchy during the nearly four decades
of his rule. However, only in recent years have scholars begun to
assess Cosimo I's more personal sphere, largely thanks to work on the
correspondence in the Medici Grand Ducal Archive (Mediceo del
Principato), housed at the Archivio di Stato in Florence. Thousands of
letters written by and about the duke paint portraits as intimate and
revelatory as those painted by Agnolo Bronzino. Details about his
personality and his relationship with family members are constantly
emerging. These letters also record his physical maladies and
psychological distress, his cynicism, his humor and his compassion.
They speak of his aesthetic tenets, intellectual curiosity, military
values, and culinary predilections. Letters address his obsession with
his enemies, his conflicting relationships with foreign regents, and
his dynastic ambitions. Most importantly, they shed light on the
intricate mechanism of court culture, which saw Cosimo I at the
epicenter of his rule.
In an effort to retrace Cosimo I’s personal dimensions, the Medici
Archive Project and the Archivio di Stato of Florence are organizing a
two-day conference (29-30 May 2014, Archivio di Stato, Florence). In
addition to the topics mentioned above, the following themes will be
addressed during this conference:
• education and humanism
• self-representation and identity
• family and diplomatic networks
• communication and information
• collections and decorum
• health and religion
• decadence and domesticity
• self-preservation and self-indulgence
Those interested in presenting papers should submit by 1 March 2014:
1) a paper title
2) a 250-word abstract in English or Italian
3) a short curriculum vitae.
Submissions should be sent via email to Maurizio Arfaioli and Samuel M.
Gallacher at: [log in to unmask]
Partial travel funding may become available.
Preference will be given to scholars whose papers incorporate the
documentary material housed in BIA, the Medici Archive Project’s
on-line digital platform sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
A state-of-the-art scholarly online resource, BIA contains an
ever-growing number of documents; as of December 2013, over 22,000
letters from and to the Medici court have been entered. While BIA's
scope will eventually extend to the entire grand duchy (1537-1743), its
current coverage favors the period of Cosimo I.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|