Transformation & Modernity around 1300: Medium, Spirituality, Experience in Giotto’s Arena Chapel

Revolving around a new reading of Giotto’s acclaimed Arena Chapel (Cappella degli Scrovegni) in Padua, this international book conference will pair some of the most eminent art historians in the field of Italian Renaissance / Early Modern Studies from Europe and the US east coast with interdisciplinary responses from prominent local historians, art historians, and specialists in related fields such as Classics, medieval, Renaissance, and literature studies from California (UCB, UCD, Stanford, and UCLA). 

On the conference day, speakers will engage themes from Henrike Lange’s book manuscript, Giotto’s Arena Chapel and the Triumph of Humility (Cambridge University Press) in five sections: I. The Sources of Antiquity as Other: Triumphal Architecture and the Lever of Humility, II. Crystallization: Matter and Illusion, III. Mystic Intelligence: Vision, Words, Cognition, IV. Giotto Historiographies, and V. Modernity & Modernities.

All respondents having read the manuscript beforehand, the five main speakers will offer comments on their section theme in relation to the manuscript as well as to their own expertise. Their presentations of about 30 minutes each will be complemented by two respective co-respondents adding a commentary of 5-10 minutes from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Graduate students from the Fall 2019 graduate seminar in Italian Studies “Spiritual Reading / Spiritual Seeing, from Dante to Montale” will introduce the speakers throughout the day and contribute comments on Giotto’s modernity in a grad round table towards the end of the conference day, followed by the author’s Q&A.

RSVP: 

Due to the limited number of seats in the event space, please RSVP if you would like to be added to the waitlist, indicating if you would like to attend the morning session, the afternoon session, or the entire day, under the subject line “RSVP Giotto Conference 2020” to henrike.lange@berkeley.edu.

Participants:

Daisy Ament (UCB Italian Studies)

Prof. Mario Biagioli (Stanford HC / UCLA Law School)

Prof. Thomas Dandelet (UCB History)

Prof. Whitney Davis (UCB History of Art)

Prof. Anne Derbes (Hood College History of Art)

Alice Fischetti (UCB Italian Studies)

Prof. Christopher Hallett (UCB Classics & History of Art)

Prof. Alexander Nagel (Institute of Fine Arts, New York University)

Prof. Alessandro Nova (Director of the Kunsthistorisches Institut – Max Planck Institute, Florence)

Prof. Todd Olson (UCB History of Art)

Prof. Ulrich Pfisterer (Director of the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, Munich)

Prof. Kriss Ravetto-Biagioli (UCLA Film Studies)

Dr. Beatrice Rehl, Cambridge University Press

Prof. Brenda Schildgen (UCD Comparative Literature)

Prof. Jonathan Sheehan (UCB History)

Prof. Randolph Starn (UCB History)

Prof. Michael Subialka (UCD Comparative Literature)

Dr. Justin Underhill (UCB History of Art / V-Lab)

Sean Wyer (UCB Italian Studies)

This conference is generously supported by:

The Institute of International Studies at UC Berkeley

The Stoddard Fund in the History of Art Department UC Berkeley

The UC Berkeley Department of History of Art

The UC Berkeley Department of Italian Studies

The Designated Emphasis in Renaissance and Early Modern Studies

The Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion