A contribution by Eric Fernie CBE FRSE FBA FSA Director of the Courtauld Institute from 1995 to 2003 President of the Society of Antiquaries of London from 2004 to 2007 “The dating of Romanesque sculpture by style can be a fraught undertaking. The quality of Kahn’s scholarship is clearly indicated by her completely convincing re-dating…
Philippe Cordez on “Typical Venice? The Art of Commodities, 13th–16th Centuries”
A contribution by Philippe Cordez The German Center for Art History – DFK Paris The idea of studying the Venetian art of commodities came to me in spring 2013, while spending a few days in Venice at the Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani – and more specifically, in its library. In thinking about art historical…
Understanding Titian’s Poesie
A contribution by Marie Tanner Titian’s mythological paintings for King Philip II of Spain, known collectively as the Poesie, have long been appreciated by scholars for their ravishing beauty due in equal measure to Titian’s mastery as a painter and to their seductive themes drawn from classical mythology. Three international exhibitions devoted to the Poesie…
Guido Rebecchini on “The Rome of Paul III (1534-1549). Art, Ritual and Urban Renewal”
A contribution by Guido Rebecchini The Courtauld Institute of Art The subject of this book began to materialize as soon as I moved away from the streets and squares of Rome where I had grown up, first to Florence, then Los Angeles, Mantua and, finally, to London. Each of these cities, large and small, underscored…
Ann Bermingham on “Meltdown! Picturing the World’s First Bubble Economy”
A contribution by Ann Bermingham University of California, Santa Barbara Three hundred years ago, the collapse of two joint stock corporations that capitalized on the anticipated expansion of maritime trade in the new world precipitated the first modern bubble and financial meltdown. The caustic satirical prints generated by this catastrophe immortalize a fascinating story of…
Tim Shephard on “Music in the Art of Renaissance Italy, 1420–1540”
A contribution by Tim Shephard University of Sheffield Sister Arts? Leonardo famously claimed that “Music is to be called none other than the sister of painting.” His assertion fits well with the Renaissance epistemology of the arts, personified as women and placed into sibling relationships as Liberal Arts or Muses. In such a system, the…