CFP: Session at RSA (New Orleans, 22-24 Mar 18)

Northerners in Italy: Negotiating Style, Art Markets, and Comunità
Historians of Netherlandish Art (HNA) Sponsored Session

The lure of Italy enticed hundreds of northern European artists to cross the Alps during the early modern period in search of artistic inspiration and fame in centers such as Venice, Rome, and Florence. How these artists negotiated their new surroundings, however, depended upon economic and social factors specific to each particular center. Recent studies focused upon artistic migration, emerging art academies, and expanding art markets in Italy have highlighted how complex and mercurial this process could be. However, a broader study that identifies consistent patterns concerning artistic mobility is still needed. This session seeks to address this lacuna, probing further the process of acclimation for northern European artists in Italy and the effect of travel on artistic practice and theory.

We invite proposals that consider the following:
– The role of networks in Italy for supporting foreign artists; and how these networks may have shifted and changed over time and within particular regions.
– The significance of community between local and foreign, including institutions and organizations.
– The meaning and nature of acclimation processes, such as negotiation, synthesis, integration, and assimilation.
– The effect of travel on artistic production, including experimentation with new techniques, materials, and styles in various contexts and centers.
– The art markets in Italy, and the role of northern European artists in their expansion and professionalization.
– The relationship between travel, mobility, and artistic theory in northern Europe and Italy during the early modern period.
– Artistic identity and identity formation among foreign artists and communities.

Proposals should be for 20-minute papers and must include a title, abstract of no more than 150 words, keywords, a C.V. of 300 words (no prose), and a short bio. Speakers will need to be members of RSA at the time of the conference.

Please send your submission to Erin Downey (edowney1@swarthmore.edu) and Sophia Quach McCabe (sqmccabe@umail.ucsb.edu) by 22 May 2017. Applicants will be notified before 1 June.