Monthly Archives: February 2015

Documentaries on Prints in the Bibliothèque National

For the past six years, Maxime Préaud, curator-in-chief emeritus of the Département des Estampes et de la Photographie of the Bibliothèque Nationale, has been working with filmmaker Bertrand Renaudineau and Gallix Productions to create a series of documentaries exploring the great masterpieces of the BN’s collection of prints.

Called Impressions fortes, these 35-minute films each focus on one work by the chosen artists, such as The Knight, Death and the Devil by Albrecht Dürer, The Temptation of Saint Anthony by Jacques Callot and The Holy Face by Claude Mellun (among others by Goya, Rembrandt, Piranesi…). The films use HD technology to get incredibly close to the originals in stunning detail and also teach the rudiments and artistry of the various printmaking processes. Art historians discuss the works and place them into their historical and artistic context.

Each documentary also features a contemporary French printmaker whose work is intimately related to that of the old master in order to show the range and wealth of contemporary printmaking.

Six films have been produced so far and a seventh is in production, dedicated to the 17th century engraver Sébastien Leclerc and his famous print The Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts.

Each is available on DVD or can be downloaded via the website, where more information is also available. English subtitles are available. Please visit www.galixproduction.fr for more information.

If anyone would like to organize public showings of single films or several in the series, please contact Bertrand Renaudineau at bertrand@gallix.fr.

New Australian and New Zealand Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies

The newly formed Australian and New Zealand Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ANZSECS) exists to promote the study of the culture and history of the long eighteenth century within Australia and New Zealand. The Society encourages research in eighteenth-century studies on a broad interdisciplinary basis—its members work in fields including art history, history, literature, philosophy, bibliography, and the history and philosophy of science. It is an affiliate of ISECS, the International Congress for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Established in December 2014, the Society draws on a distinguished history of eighteenth-century scholarship in Australia and New Zealand. It advances the exchange of information and ideas among researchers engaged in eighteenth-century studies through various activities and events, including the 3-4 yearly David Nichol Smith Seminar.

For more information about the Society, membership, and related events, please visit the ANZSECS website: http://anzsecs.com

Special Issue of JEMS: The Care of the Self in Early Modern Philosophy and Science – Call For Papers

The Journal of Early Modern Studies is pleased to invite contributions to its fall 2015 special issue on ‘The Care of the Self in Early Modern Philosophy and Science’ (editor Sorana Corneanu).

The practice of early modern philosophy and science involved an important measure of concern with the care of the self. The pursuit of the theoretical or the experimental components of the various philosophies and sciences from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries were often understood to be grounded in and/or to contribute to the good constitution or moulding of their practitioners. The ways in which this was so are still in need of detailed investigation. We invite contributions that address this historiographic line of inquiry and pay focused attention to relevant authors and themes. Among the latter, we propose: the connections between regimens of the self, whether cognitive, affective or corporeal, and the rationales, goals and methods of the practice of the various philosophies and sciences; the interplay between the individual and the communal in such care of the self; the conceptualization of bodies, minds and their relation presupposed or shaped by such concerns; notions of self emerging out of this picture.

JEMS is an interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal of intellectual history, dedicated to explorations of the interactions between philosophy, science and religion in Early Modern Europe. It is edited by the “Foundations of Modern Thought” Research Centre, University of Bucharest, and published and distributed by Zeta Books. For further information on JEMS and its previous issues, please visit www.zetabooks.com/journals/journal-of-early-modern-studies.html.

Please send your contributions by the 1 April 2015 to jems@zetabooks.com.

England’s Immigrants 1330-1550 – Now Online

A major new research database revealing extraordinary data on immigration in England in the late medieval period is now available, thanks to the University of York, in partnership with the Humanities Research Institute (University of Sheffield) and The National Archives.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded the three-year project directed by Professor Mark Ormrod, of the University’s Centre for Medieval Studies, who headed a team of researchers based in York and London.

It reveals evidence about the names, origins, occupations and households of a significant number of foreigners who chose to live and work in England in the era of the Hundred Years War, the Black Death and the Wars of the Roses. The project contributes to debates about the longer-term history of immigration to Britain, helping to provide a deep historical and cultural context to contemporary debates over ethnicity, multiculturalism and national identity.

The database contains the names of a total of 65,000 immigrants resident in England between 1330 and 1550.

The database is accessible to all at www.englandsimmigrants.com and is a fully searchable and interactive resource, from which data can be downloaded. The website also supports the researcher with guides to the various counties and documents, and provides case studies of interesting individuals demonstrating just how much we can learn from our immigrant ancestors.

For more on the launch of this database, please visit: http://yorkmedieval.com/2015/02/17/englands-immigrants-1330-1550-launch-of-the-database.

Ritualizing the City: Collective Performances as Aspects of Urban Construction – Call For Papers

Ritualizing the City: Collective Performances as Aspects of Urban Construction
Brno, Czech Republic
3-4 March, 2016

Organizer: Ivan Foletti, Masaryk University in Brno and University of Lausanne – Centre for Cross-Disciplinary Research into Cultural Phenomena in Central European History: Image, Communication, Behaviour.

The conference aims to reflect on the ways in which collective liturgies– religious as well as civic and totalitarian – contributed to the construction of urbanism from late Antiquity to the  twentieth century and, on the other hand, how urban topography and the layout of the city influenced collective performances. The goal of such a reflection is to indicate how a collective ritual performance grows and develops in dialogue with the surrounding urban space. But especially how it participates in the determination of that same space.

The purpose of the conference is thus to explore the dialectic relationship between the city and collective rituals, beginning with Late Antique Rome, marked out by stationary liturgy, through medieval and modern cities designed to celebrate sovereigns and bishops, up to Stalinist Moscow, constructed to embrace the manifestations of Soviet power.

Participants are invited to reflect on such issues as: the methods used by the rituals to integrate the space of the cities; in what way collective performances are modified and adjusted to a specific urban situation; the manner in which urban space is reconstructed and modified to facilitate collective performances; how, with a change of regime, the new collective liturgies adapted themselves to the new situation. Papers presenting a historiographical and diachronic art historical and methodological perspective are especially welcomed.

Paper proposals of no more than one page, accompanied by a short CV, can be submitted until 10 September 2015 to: ivan.foletti@gmail.com.

Court Etiquette – Call For Papers

Court Etiquette: Normative Texts and Customs, 2014–16 Research Programme
Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles

For its three-year research programme (2014–16), the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles has launched a research axis on Court Etiquette: Normative Texts and Customs and wishes to publish articles related to this subject in the Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.

Although the word etiquette has today taken on an accepted meaning that might appear clear and well defined, it quickly becomes clear that this notion is far from self-evident. In addition to the fact that people often confuse ‘ceremonial’, ‘protocol’ and ‘etiquette’, the latter term was only used rarely at the time, and often with very different meanings. Whether in Richelet’s dictionary or Furetière’s, the lexicographers took it in what was essentially a legal sense. In fact, in France, the word related to elements of judicial procedure. However, the dictionary of the Académie Française (starting with its 1718 edition and in the last definition it gives of the word) recalls the familiar use of this word in Spain in the sense of “what must be done daily in the King’s Household, and in the principal ceremonies.” The absence of the current definition of the word etiquette in contemporary dictionaries in no way means that the word was not used in this sense in the language. We have evidence of this in a letter by Madame Palatine dated 3 February 1679 in which the Duchess of Orléans explained that she had never been able to get used to this “insipid etiquette.”

Bernard Hours in his study on the court of Louis XV describes the historical authenticity and origins of French etiquette (Louis XV et Sa Cour, Paris, PUF, coll. “Le Nœud Gordien”, 2002, p. 77–98). It goes back to the Burgundian court of Philippe le Bon in the 15th century when “it referred to a written formula setting out the timetable of the prince and his court” (ibid., p. 78). From then on, there was an effort to retain the customs in order to perpetuate them. As situations developed, so did etiquette and each new code was recorded to establish a precedent.

This line of research aims to formalise the unwritten customs of the French court. In fact, in contrast to the many systematic studies carried out particularly on the Hapsburg court in Madrid and those on the court in Vienna, French etiquette has always been universally viewed according to the customs and rituals of the court. The main objective here is to understand the evolution of etiquette as it developed, improved and declined.

Article proposals can deal with one or several of the following themes and lines of enquiry:

      • The definition of etiquette
      • The origins and emergence of etiquette
      • The nature of etiquette in relation to court ritual
      • The circumstances in which etiquette was applied (large household, ceremonial occasions, rituals) and etiquette according to topography, and vice versa
      • Etiquette as a political tool, or a means to control or civilise
      • Who determines or arbitrates on matters of etiquette?
      • Are courtisans the protagonists, driving force or victims of etiquette?
      • A Europe-wide expansion of etiquette

Authors can refer to a non-exhaustive bibliography on the subject (available as a PDF file).

Article proposals (abstracts of about 5,000 characters) should be addressed to Mathieu da Vinha (mathieu.da-vinha@chateauversailles.fr) in French or in English. These proposals will be reviewed by the scientific committee. If the proposals are accepted by the scientific committee, the full articles will be examined both by the latter and by two members of the Centre de recherche du château de Versailles’s peer review committee (or by external scholars appointed by the scientific or peer review committee if necessary). Articles must be submitted before 31 December 2015. Proposals can be submitted in French, English, German, Italian, or Spanish. The final articles will be 40,000 characters maximum (bibliography and footnotes included). Authors should comply with the editorial guidelines of the Bulletin du Centre de recherche du château de Versailles.

Scientific Committee of the Court Etiquette Research Programme
Mathieu da Vinha (Centre de recherche du château de Versailles), Raphaël Masson (château de Versailles), Alice Camus (Centre de recherche du château de Versailles), Delphine Carrangeot (université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, centre de recherche ESR-DYPAC), Nicole Lallement (Centre de recherche du château de Versailles), Bénédicte Lecarpentier-Bertrand (université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne), Pauline Lemaigre-Gaffier (université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, centre de recherche ESR-DYPAC), Benjamin Ringot (Centre de recherche du château de Versailles)

Peer Review Committee
Marc Bayard (Mobilier national), Monique Chatenet (université Paris-Sorbonne/École du Louvre), Anne Conchon (université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Claire Constans (conservateur général honoraire du patrimoine), Alexandre Gady (Centre André Chastel/université Paris-Sorbonne), Pauline Lemaigre-Gaffier (université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, centre de recherche ESR-DYPAC), Nicolas Le Roux (université Lumière – Lyon 2),Nicole Reinhardt (université de Durham, Grande-Bretagne), Thierry Sarmant (musée Carnavalet)

Fashion and Art History – Call For Papers

Fashion and Art History
University of York
29–30 June, 2015

The Association of Art Historians (AAH) Summer Symposium is a two-day annual conference highlighting post-graduate research. It takes place at a different university each year in early Summer.

Fashion and art often follow a shared trajectory of social, political, and historical circumstances. In collaboration with the University of York, the AAH’s annual Student Summer Symposium will explore the relationship between fashion and art, by inviting papers that engage with this subject across a wide range of chronological and theoretical perspectives.

The influence of fashionable dress on artists and patrons of art has recently become a popular and productive avenue for research in art history, while fashion designers have likewise been shown to engage continuously with historical and fine art as sources of inspiration. Fashion and Art History invites papers that build upon these conversations while also addressing questions that continue to be debated in art and fashion history circles: What evidence does art provide for how dress operates within society? Is fashion ‘art’? Should fashion history be taught alongside art history in academic curricula? When should these objects be displayed in galleries alongside each other, and how does this change the way we understand artworks and fashionable dress? Finally, how might the tools and methodologies of these related disciplines aid the study of their respective subjects?

We welcome contributions from all periods and contexts that engage with the relationship between art and fashion within aesthetic, cultural, social, and material frameworks. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • The engagement of artists, sitters, and patrons of works art with fashion
  • Artworks and visual imagery as evidence for understandings of historical dress
  • Artists as fashion designers and style setters
  • The dissemination of fashionable dress through artworks
  • Fashion designers as artists and the status of fashion as an art
  • Historical revivals in fashion and the role of visual culture in this process
  • Exhibitions devoted to fashion history, and the display of fashion in art galleries
  • Developing relationships between fashion and art and its histories

Abstracts of no more than 250 words for 20-minute papers plus a 100-word biography should be submitted as a single Word document to Anna Bonewitz, Serena Dyer, Sophie Littlewood, and Sophie Frost at fashionandarthistory2015@gmail.com by 27 March 2015. The symposium is open to all, however speakers are required to be AAH members.

Connectivity from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages [Updated] – Call For Papers

[Updated with correct contact details]

Connectivity from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
The University of Auckland
21 April, 2015

On the 21st of April 2015 the Disciplinary Area of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Auckland, with support from the Australian Early Medieval Association, will host a workshop entitled “Connectivity from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages”.

This workshop will explore the theme of connectivity as it applies to the periods of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (c. A.D. 350 – 1000). Connectivity is the measure of cohesion and interaction between groups and individuals in a society. Key questions for this workshop are: how did individuals and groups maintain and build connectivity in their societies? Did traditional networks and systems, such as Roman amicitia, remain or were they replaced by new networks and systems? Did the societies of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages remain ‘connected’ in a time of disruption to older networks?

We welcome papers on a wide range of topics that engage and discuss the theme of connectivity, including, but not limited to: friendship; letter writing; social cohesion, geographic connectivity; social, economic, religious, and political networks; and ethnic identity.

Papers should be between 20-25 minutes long. Abstracts (100-200 words) should be submitted by the 1st of March.

Presenters are also encouraged to consider submitting their paper to the 2015 volume of the Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association.

Please send abstracts to Dan Knox dkno024@aucklanduni.ac.nz along with any enquires about the workshop.

Shakespeare: Early-Career Essay Prize – Call For Applications

The editors of Shakespeare, in association with the British Shakespeare Association, are offering an annual essay prize. The winning entry will be published in Shakespeare and the winner will receive a copy of the volume (with 4 issues) in which the essay appears.

Submission Guidelines

The competition is open to research students and to early career researchers (who have held a PhD for no more than 2 years up to the submission deadline). Essays will be considered on any aspect of Shakespeare and will not exceed 6,000 words. Essays should be anonymised and submitted to https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rshk by 1 September 2015. The essays will be judged by a panel that will include the editors and members of the editorial board. The winner will be announced in December 2015.

In some cases, essays submitted by runners-up may also be published.