CALL FOR PAPERS: Naval Motives in Venetian Renaissance Art, The Renaissance Society of America (RSA) Annual Meeting 2016, Boston, 31 March – 2 April 2016.
It is an oddity that in today’s Venice there is no particular interest in its naval history. This is quite surprising because the Serenissima was one of the most important harbor cities of the Mediterranean Sea in the Middle Ages and the Renaissace and still is the only large city in the world functioning almost exclusively via boats until this day. In comparison with other harbor cities like Genova and Rome, there are only few naval monuments which stick out in Venice’s cityscape: the richly decorated facade of S. Maria del Giglio, for example, or the ship masts placed on many campos, a tradition going back to 1480 when three of them were erected in front of the facade of San Marco. There are, however, several very original Venitian inventions inspired by its long naval past: the Bucintoro, the precious ship of state of the Serenissima, denominated by Goethe “a true monstrance“ (“eine wahre Monstranz”), and the shipvaulted wooden church ceilings created by Venetian shipbuilders.
The panel seeks to focus on Venice’s nautical past and present in Renaissance art. Papers should discuss artefacts reflecting the Venetian naval power and dominion in the Mediterranean Sea. How were nautical motives and know-how used by potent secular and ecclesiastical patrons? In which way representations of ships were used for their self-representation? Which impact did the art of naval architecture have on the other arts? Possible topics can discuss all artistic media: architecture, sculpture, and painting as well as coins, seals, prints, book illuminations, graffitti etc.
Please send an abstract with paper title (150-word maximum) and a brief curriculum vitae (300-word maximum) to Nicole Hegener.
Deadline: 1 June 2015.
Source: H-ArtHist