Faith and Fantasy - Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies

Faith and Fantasy in the Early Modern World
An International and Interdisciplinary Conference at
The Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies
Victoria College, University of Toronto
Friday and Saturday, 19-20 October 2007
Abstracts
Albert, Luce Marchal (Université de Paris IV) “ ‘Double de cuer et de langue’:
Calvin et les libertins spirituels, polémique, hétérodoxie et dissimulation”
Je termine ma thèse qui porte sur la polémique qui oppose Calvin et les libertins
spirituels, descendants de la mystique rhénano-flamande et ancêtres des
libertins du XVIIe siècle (Contre la secte phantastique et furieuse des libertins qui
se nomment spirituelz, 1545). Je m'intéresse particulièrement au problème du
mensonge, de l'hypocrisie que soulève particulièrement Calvin.
Anderson, Christy (University of Toronto) “Devotional Practice and Architectural
Fantasy in 16th-Century England”
This paper examines a group of buildings designed by the 16th-century recusant,
Sir Thomas Tresham, at his estates in Northamptonshire. The buildings are
famously related to his faith, with references to the trinity, Marian devotion, and
so on. Although much attention has been given to trying to decode their meaning,
little work has been done on understanding how they were intended to be used
as meditational devices, following Trasham's own religious practices. The talk will
focus on the architecture in relationship to reading practice of the buildings' rich
textual inscriptions, and related buildings in England and elsewhere.
Andrasi, Diana (Université de Montréal) “L’image de la pensée par les yeux de
Béatrice”
Au Moyen Age, l’image constitue l’instrument le plus complexe pour représenter
le monde et les rapports de spiritualité. Chez Dante, l’image du monde se
construit au point d’incidence entre la pensée, la représentation et l’amour. Ainsi,
l’imago mundi devient une image particulière : l’image de la pensée reflétée par
les yeux de Béatrice. Le syntagme «image de la pensée» appartient à Walter
Benjamin, mais on peut bien supposer que le monde dantesque soit le premier
Denkbild [image de la pensée] dans la littérature. J’examinerai les particularités
de cette image de la pensée qui, évidemment, dépasse l’espace de l’imaginaire.
Armstrong, Sean (CRRS, U of Toronto) “How the Fairies Left England”
In western Europe, the ancient belief in the world of fairies is mixed up with the
great witch-hunt. Serious witch-hunting occurred only in those places where fairy
beliefs were fully assimilated with fears of witchcraft to create the new model of a
demonic cult of witches. The connection can be clearly seen in the Scottish
witch-hunt. Conversely, the fairies remained alive in areas where the witch-hunt
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had never gone. In Britain, these were in the “Celtic fringe” – areas where no
significant witch-hunting is reported. This paper traces linkages between the
decline of fairy beliefs and the witch-hunt in Britain.
Bamji, Alexandra (Cambridge University) “Flights of Fantasy and the Venetian
Inquisition”
In 1662, the Venetian Inquisition was sent the transcripts of a trial conducted in
Arbe, an island in the Adriatic under Venetian control. Witness statements
contain accounts of flying witches, the Devil and unorthodox prayers recited
when people were sick. This paper will assess how this island’s people shaped
religion for their own purposes, and juxtapose their creativity with the more minor
adaptations to orthodox religion for which evidence can be found in trials
conducted in Venice itself. This unusual case suggests that there was more
imaginative space for such flights of fantasy on the periphery of CounterReformation Europe.
Bartoli, Lorenzo (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) “Ciappelletto, Abraham,
Melchisedec: The “Decameron” and Its Fantastic Ambiguity”
The paper discusses the ambiguous relationship between faith and the
fantastic in the three stories which open the Decameron, in relation to the overall
ideology of the book and with Boccaccio´s defense of poetry in Book XVth of the
Genealogia Deorum Gentilium.
Baumgarten, Jens (Federal University of São Paulo) “From post-Tridentine Italy
to Colonial Brazil: Images and Imagination in the Missions Politics”
The paper intends to analyze the concepts of images and imagination in the
context of visual representation in colonial Brazil and its reference to the postTridentine models. Therefore it is necessary to examine various aspects of the
migration and transference of culture, especially artistic and religious concepts,
from Italy to Portuguese America in the 17th century. This would also mean to
analyze the Catholic theory of visualization, focusing on different methods used
to transform this visual system within the context of several colonial-American
societies. Consequently it refers to the post-Tridentine concepts, in particular the
theologians Gabriele Paleotti and Roberto Bellarmino, and their reception by the
Jesuit, politician, diplomat and intellectual Antônio Vieira, one of the most
important Portuguese authors of the 17th century, whose sermons can be found
largely distributed in Portugal and her colonies. The decisive role of imagination
for the missionary politics can be scrutinized by the value of the visual sense and
the role of emotions in Vieira’s sermons as he combines in his discourse visual
perception, political aesthetics and implicitly the role of the visual arts.
Beecher, Donald (Carleton University) “Spiritual Joy, Spiritual Suffering in the
Poetry of George Herbert”
Herbert's "The Temple" is a record in poetry of one man's considered life of
spiritual highs and lows sensitively recorded in verses of enduring appeal and
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skill. Herbert's poetry is an attempt to control the promiscuous features of his
mind that wandered away from his spiritual purposes, a quest to focus
consciousness upon spiritual goals. In this regard these poems become a record
of his rewards, as well as of his failures and despondency. It is the economy of
mind control in relation to spiritual goals that I want to explore, looking at the
poems as a language of mind that parallels what we now know about the
challenges in controlling consciousness to spiritualized ends.
Caputo, Vincenzo (Università “Federico II” di Napoli) “Gli ‘abusi’ dei pittori e la
‘norma’ dei trattatisti: Gilio (1562) e Paleotti (1582)” (“The ‘Deviation’ of Painters
and the ‘Norm’ of the Treatise Writers Gilio and Paleotti”)
The objective of this paper is the analysis of Giovanni Andrea Gilio’s and
Gabriele Paleotti’s normative pieces, the Dialogo nel quale si ragiona degli errori
e degli abusi de’ pittori circa l’istorie, published for the first time in Camerino by
Antonio Gioioso in 1564, and the Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre et profane
diviso in cinque libri, published for the first time in Bologna by Alessandro
Benacci in 1582.
The dictates of the Counter-Reformation, that imposed themselves on Catholic
culture during the second half of the 16th century, also determined a
consideration about the limits of artists in the creation of their sacred and secular
images. Thus, there existed, on the one hand, the reasons of the CounterReformation’s ‘faith’ and, on the other hand, the reasons of the pictorial and
sculptural ‘fantasy’ of the single painter or sculptor (and often the target of
criticism is is clearly identified in Michelangelo Buonarroti).
The works by Gilio and Paleotti thus come to exemplify the various relationships
between the figurative arts and writing, that in this case, in the name of
orthodoxy, take on decidedly normative features.
L’intervento si pone l’obiettivo di analizzare le opere precettistiche di Giovanni
Andrea Gilio (Dialogo nel quale si ragiona degli errori e degli abusi de’ pittori
circa l’istorie, pubblicato per la prima volta a Camerino presso Antonio Gioioso
nel 1564) e di Gabriele Paleotti (Discorso intorno alle imagini sacre et profane
diviso in cinque libri, pubblicato per la prima volta a Bologna presso Alessandro
Benacci nel 1582).
I dettami controriformistici, che si impongono nella cultura cattolica del secondo
Cinquecento, determinano anche una riflessione sui limiti degli artisti nella resa
delle loro immagini, sia sacre che profane. Esistono, quindi, da un lato le ragioni
della ‘fede’ tridentina e, dall’altro, le ragioni della ‘fantasia’ del singolo pittore o
scultore (e spesso il bersaglio critico è esplicitamente indicato in Michelangelo
Buonarroti).
Le opere di Gilio e Paleotti diventano, dunque, esemplificative del variegato
rapporto tra le arti figurative e la scrittura, che in questo caso assume, in nome
dell’ortodossia, caratteri decisamente normativi.
Carman, Charles (SUNY, Buffalo) “The Reality and the Rhetoric of Spatial
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Constructs in 15th-Century Italian Painting”
Many art historians and critics of fifteenth-century Italian painting have
understood Alberti’s single point perspective construction as evidence of
increased naturalism. Others (most famously Panofsky) have argued that it is
rather a rhetorical construct, that it is “symbolic.” Geometric perspectives do
enhance a sense of naturalism, compared to fourteenth-century (and earlier)
works, yet they only seem more natural. Through examination of paintings,
Alberti’s text, and writings of Nicholas Cusanus, my goal is to define an
epistemology of vision for this period that can more easily accommodate an
understanding of sacred space, both linear and non-linear.
Cicali, Gianni (Georgetown University) “Variations on a Legend: Faith and
Fantasy on the Stage in Renaissance Florence”
During the second half of the 15th century in Tuscany, there was a new interest
in the legend of the discovery of the True Cross, which dated back to the 4th
century. After the 1439 council held in Florence between the Western and
Eastern churches, in accordance with the political agenda of the Franciscan
order on the one hand, and of the Medici family on the other, the Inventio crucis
received renewed attention, becoming a more frequent subject in the visual arts,
as evidenced, for instance, by the large spaces dedicated to it on the frescoed
walls of the church in Arezzo. My paper will focus on the Inventio crucis on
Florentine stages, where this legendary nucleus merged with new religious
issues and aims.
Corrigan, Alan (University of Toronto) “Faith and Emotional Extremes in Early
Modern Tragicomedies”
For Sir Thomas Browne, faith was “to believe a thing not only above, but contrary
to reason, and against the arguments of our proper senses” (Religio Medici,
1642). My paper examines the role of faith in the frequently improbable
conclusions of early modern tragicomic drama. Tragicomedies tended to hover
about the limits of emotional excess, and they used this excess to draw
characters (and audiences) together in an implied universality of experience. I
will ask what role faith plays in the negotiation of particularity and universality in
relation to emotional extremes.
Dickey, Stephanie (Queen’s University) “Rembrandt's Mennonite Legacy: Jan
Luyken, ‘The Martyrs Mirror’, and Religious Narrative”
The second edition of Thieleman Jansz van Braght's important Mennonite
martyrology, Het Bloedig Toneel der Doopsgesinden... (1685, known as The
Martyrs' Mirror) contains 103 illustrations by the prolific poet and printmaker Jan
Luyken. This paper will examine how the narrative structure and historicizing
details of Luyken's illustrations, which have received scant attention, depend
upon pictorial strategies for the depiction of Biblical narratives developed by
Pieter Lastman, Rembrandt van Rijn, and their circle in the period 1615-40, and
how Luyken's imagery works to reinforce the historical veracity, emotional impact
and populist appeal of Van Braght's text.
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Divenuto, Francesco (Università “Federico II” di Napoli) “La chiesa della
Controrifoma: Regole e deroghe negli scritti di Carlo Borromeo e di altri autori”
(Counter-Reformation Churches: The Rules in the Writings of Carlo Borromeo
and Others and How They Were Modified)
Nel 1577, per la prima volta, viene pubblicato il famoso testo di Carlo Borromeo
"Instructiones...", mentre, nel 1582, il Paleotti scrive sulle immagini sacre ed,
infine, nel 1587 il Tibaldi tornerà, ancora una volta, sul modo di costruire gli
edifici sacri. In questi testi la Chiesa di Roma individua un valido strumento per
attuare la sua politica per quanto riguarda la tipologia delle strutture sacre
ampiamente dibattuta durante il Concilio di Trento i cui lavori si erano conclusi
nel 1563. Agli ordini religiosi, innanzitutto ai Gesuiti (Compagnia fondata nel
1534 dallo spagnolo Ignazio de Lojola) spetterà, poi, tradurre in pratica queste
nuove regole non senza, però, alcune eccezioni che gli stessi padri della
Compagnia giustificheranno parlando di un "modo nostro" per quanto riguarda le
loro scelte progettuali. Eppure alla loro attività (si pensi alla chiesa romana del
Gesù) si deve l'approdo della cultura figurativa alla stagione barocca. Questo
particolare momento, con i suoi testi, ma anche con il suo acceso dibattito, sarà
oggetto del mio intervento.
Ekorong, Alain (Depauw University) “Rabelais mystique? Dérive kabbalistique
dans l'oeuvre rabelaisienne”
L’œuvre de François Rabelais n’est pas souvent analysée sous l’angle
hermétique. Une dizaine d’études tout au plus se consacrent à l’exploration des
aspects mystiques de son œuvre. Suivant ce mouvement, cette étude se focalise
sur ce que nous appelons volontiers la dérive hermétique chez Rabelais. Nous
montrerons qu’au-delà des quelques railleries que Rabelais affecte aux
«cabalistes», son œuvre peut être lue comme une quête mystique dont l’un des
piliers fondamentaux repose sur un héritage hermétique indéniable. En
particulier, cette étude veut explorer l’influence de certains concepts
kabbalistiques et alchimiques dans la vision générale du texte rabelaisien.
Fiorenza, Giancarlo (Georgia Museum of Art) “Ludovico Mazzolino and the Art
of Disputation”
This talk addresses the theme of disputation in the devotional paintings of the
Ferrarese artist Ludovico Mazzolino (1480-1528/30). Mazzolino incorporates a
dynamic mixture of exotic imagery and sacred inscriptions—Hebrew, Aramaic,
and hieroglyphs—as well as motifs taken from ancient Roman monuments and
sarcophagi. His works present literary commonplaces from Scripture to the
viewer for interpretation, and go on to provoke further rhetorical responses of the
theme of Christ’s disputation by setting the events in temples, highly ornamented
with related themes from ancient or sacred history. It follows that such images
broadcast the classical rhetorical precepts of Renaissance humanist theology.
François, Wim (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) “The Louvain Theologian John
Driedo vs. the German Reformer Martin Luther. And who could impose their
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truth”
In the sixteenth century Reformers and their Catholic opponents were not afraid
to claim that they had unique access to divine truth. Luther advanced the thesis
that Scripture alone was all that was necessary and sufficient for one to gain
access to truth. According to the Louvain master John Driedo, Scripture needed
to be interpreted and supplemented by ecclesiastical traditions. It is hard to avoid
the conclusion that this 16th-century discussion about the ways to the truth was
strongly determined by the context in which the protagonists lived, by their
educational systems, and existential concerns and fears (Luther), by the ‘school’
to which they belonged (Driedo), by their notions of the Church, by their lack of
historical perspective, etc. All parties called upon the Holy Spirit as the ultimate
guarantor of their own positions. Church history clearly shows that both the
breakthrough of the Reformation and the maintenance of Catholicism were also
largely due to political influences.
Frappier, Louise (Simon Fraser University) “Théâtre et guerres de religion: La
tragédie en France au XVIe siècle”
La renaissance de la tragédie dans la seconde moitié du seizième siècle en
France est contemporaine des conflits religieux opposant catholiques et
réformés. Si les tragédies des années 1550 se caractérisent essentiellement par
une recherche esthétique, celles publiées durant les premières guerres de
Religion portent la marque des polémiques religieuses opposant les belligérants.
Catholiques et protestants utilisent en effet le théâtre comme outil de
propagande dans le combat des idées faisant écho aux luttes armées.
Il s’agira ainsi d’examiner l’inflexion particulière donnée au genre tragique par
l’empreinte des croyances respectives des auteurs d’allégeance catholique ou
réformée. L’analyse portera plus précisément sur les œuvres de Philone et de
Robert Garnier.
Fujitani, James (University of California, Santa Barbara) “Hierarchy and
Humility: The Orthodoxy of Montaigne’s Animal Praise”
Montaigne’s vision of human/animal equality, found in the Apologie de Raimond
Sebond, has often been viewed as a heterodoxical—even heretical—revolt
against tradition. In this paper, I challenge this view, arguing that his theriophily in
fact draws from orthodox religious doctrine. In the tradition of Catholic
theologians of the earlier sixteenth century, such as Lefèvre d’Étaples and
Guillaume Briçonnet, Montaigne does not so much deny human privilege, as
deny that we can take credit for this divine gift. His animal praise thus presents
an unusual, but logical development of the evangelical tradition.
Geck, John (CMS, University of Toronto) “Lancelot's Bloody Sark: An Anti-type
of the Christ-knight in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries”
Alongside variations on Lancelot’s abandonment of the Maid of Ascolot for
Guinevere (appearing from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries) lie versions of
the ‘Bloody Serke’ tale, in which Christ, allegorised as knight, fights in defence of
the soul, a maiden. Both traditions, devotional and romance, have influenced and
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been influenced by each other. For the devotional literature, the Ascolot tale
provides a specific frame for the Christ-Knight allegory, in the romantic
(particularly the stanzaic Morte Arthur), the poet sets pious devotion to Christ in
opposition to the confused, though forgivable, devotion the Maid holds for
Lancelot.
Glatstein, Jeremy (J. Paul Getty Museum) “Exodus and Exile: Messianic
Imagery in Early Modern Jewish Printed Books”
Described as claustrophobic and oppressive by those forced to live within their
walls, the ghettoes of Italy were also the sites of tremendous cultural
transformation for early modern Jews. The establishment of ghettoes across Italy
was often viewed through a messianic lens, as early modern Jews interpreted
this historical catastrophe as a harbinger of the messianic age. This paper
explores the visual manifestation of messianic thought through images in Jewish
books, focusing particularly on printed editions of the Haggadah, the liturgy for
the Jewish festival of Passover.
Guidini-Raybaud, Joelle (CRRS, University of Toronto) “L'Immaculée
Conception de sainte Anne, ou le vitrail de l'Arbre de Jessé de l'ancienne
cathédrale d'Apt (Vaucluse, France), 1501”
Un vitrail de 1501 montrant un Arbre de Jessé subsiste dans l'ancienne
cathédrale d'Apt, mais son iconographie n'est pas totalement habituelle: c'est
Anne, mère de la Vierge, qui trône au sommet de l'arbre, entourée des flammes
de l'Immaculée Conception. Sainte Anne représentée en Immaculée Conception
est un unicum. Qui fut l'instigateur de cette représentation non conventionnelle?
(le commanditaire, le chapitre cathédrale, l'artisan?) Quelles étaient ses raisons?
L'analyse du prix-fait du vitrail, comparé à d'autres, le statut de l'édifice, la
dévotion des Aptésiens pour la sainte, l'examen de l'oeuvre enfin, apportent des
éléments de réponses.
Haeger, Barbara (Ohio State University) “Images, Meditational Prayer, and the
Experience of Divine Presence”
This paper explores three paintings by Rubens that, I contend, were devised to
function simultaneously as epitaphs, meditational images, and pictorial
arguments for the legitimate and affective use of images in religious devotions.
By examining these works in light of the image debate, meditational practices,
and biblical commentaries, I shall demonstrate that they all are devised to lead
the viewer to an experience of divine presence, which is the aim of meditational
prayer, and that they all connect this experience to that which will be enjoyed by
the faithful after death.
*Harvey, Elizabeth D. (University of Toronto) “‘Samson Agonistes’ and Milton’s
Sensible Ethics”
Mary Ann Radzinowicz remarked almost thirty years ago that Milton’s Samson
Agonistes (1671) is a work notable for its “outward stillness” and “inward
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movement.” Samson is, she asserts, “enchained, encased in sightless silence,
confined to a single bank, enclosed in a dark dungeon of a body, assaulted by
numberless inward griefs.” Her characterization forces the action of the tragedy
inward, not only to the “prison-house” of the body, but to “th’inmost mind.” I will
explore the nature of this inwardness by focusing on the play’s ubiquitous
representation of the five senses and its use of sensory language. Early in the
play, for example, Samson’s lament for his blindness poignantly contrasts the
relative dissipation of touch with the contracted vulnerability of vision: “why was
the sight/ To such a tender ball as th’eye confined?/ So obvious and so easie to
be quench’t,/ And not as feeling through all parts diffus’d/ That she might look at
will through every pore?”(93-6). This figuration of tactility’s distribution over the
surface of the skin captures both the ubiquity associated with early modern
representations of touch and its synesthetic borrowing and multiplication of
vision, as if it could install an eye in every pore. The tragedy is, in fact, saturated
with references to sensory experience, acoustic, tactile, visual, and olfactory in
particular, from Samson’s blindness to Dalila’s fragrant seductions. I will argue
that the account of the senses in Samson Agonistes affiliates the play with a
tradition of natural historical, medical, and philosophical writings on the
sensorium (from Plato and Aristotle to Hobbes), with Edmund Spenser’s imaging
of the attack of the senses on the Castle of Alma in Book II of The Faerie
Queene, with Milton’s Comus and Paradise Lost, and with fantasy and
imagination, faculties that were closely linked to the senses for Aristotle and his
interpreters. My paper will examine Milton’s animist materialism in Samson
Agonistes in relation to epistemology, faith, and ethical action on the one hand,
and riddling, poetic, and prophetic language on the other. What kind of
knowledge is necessary in order to act, and how are the data of the senses
distilled into understanding? How are the senses, “the intelligencers between the
body and the soul,” like the play’s political spies, capable of perverting and
distorting truth? How do prophecy and riddles, God’s inscrutable language,
manifest themselves in “incorporate” form and make themselves accessible to
human apprehension and understanding? Finally, how does the play itself draw
on a language of the senses and the passions in order to engage the reader in its
imaginative work?
Iarocci, Bernice (University of Toronto) “Fantastical Disorder and Spiritual
Meaning in Sixteenth-Century Italian Painting”
As historians of Renaissance art have long recognized, the term fantasy, as it
appears in Renaissance art writings, has an ambiguous status: in a positive
sense fantasia is the creative power of the artist, but it is also a potentially
dangerous psychic force that can overwhelm reason. Modern scholarship,
however, has not considered how fantasy is also defined as a mode of
composition. According to Renaissance theorists, fantasy brings together
elements that do not seem to properly or logically belong together. Furthermore,
such fantastical disorder may, at two extremes, either form monstrosities, or
engender meanings that transcend literal representation.
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Jurkowlaniec, Grazyna (Institute of Art History, Warsaw University) “The Might
of Grace and the Power of Art: Renaissance Reinterpretations of Christian
Legends about Miraculous Images”
According to some medieval legends, certain images painted by St. Luke were
miraculously completed when the painter fell asleep. This testifies to the divine
grace supporting him in his endeavor. In the 16th century both Church writers
and theoreticians of art noticed the connection between the artist’s skills and the
miraculous power of images. However, Catholic apologists emphasized rather
the pious life of the painter who was still perceived as the tool in God’s hand.
Renaissance writers, in turn, reinterpreting Christian legends, developed the idea
of the divine artist who is able to produce works described as miraculous ones.
Kambaskovic-Sawers, Danijela (Macquarie University) “Strong Offence’s
Cross: The Bible and Frustrated Desire in the Petrarchan Sonnet Sequence”
The way sonnet sequences develop fictional uses of the first-person voice
deserves more critical attention than it has received. This paper analyses the use
of Biblical subtext in representations of frustrated desire in six Renaissance
sonnet sequences (Petrarch, Sidney, Spenser, Drayton, Daniel and
Shakespeare), seeking to offer a fresh perspective on the role of the Bible in the
gender dynamics and auto-poetics of the five sequences. The paper also points
to changes in the way the five poets use Biblical subtext to argue that they
correspond to changes in the authorial priorities relating to representations of
desire and the writing self.
Karmon, David (Newberry Library) “Transcendent Visions and Archeological
Protection in Early Modern Rome”
If legislative evidence shows key advances in archeological protection occurring
in early modern Rome, these could also be shaped by faith and fantasy. The
mystical visions of a Sicilian priest, Antonio del Duca, generated an
unprecedented project of adaptive reuse, S Maria degli Angeli at the Baths of
Diocletian. Using an unpublished manuscript recording the project’s history
through 1564, I will explore how religious ideology and creative inspiration both
transformed and protected this monumental landmark. This paper places Del
Duca’s project into the larger history of ecclesiastical reuse of ancient remains,
investigating how spirituality, wonder, and fantasy drove early modern protective
measures.
Kearney, Joy (Radboud University) “Transgressing the Sacred and Profane: The
Portrayal of Mary Magdalen in Paintings”
Mary Magdalen has variously been seen as the vain and the penitent figure in
works of art down through the ages. But who is the real Magdalen? The way
various artists approach the portrayal of the Magdalen has much to do with social
and religious constraints and cultural issues in general. She is portrayed as
proud, vain and worldly in some representations, while in others she is the
piteous, penitent and sorrowful ‘woman of sin’ asking for forgiveness. Mary
Magdalen is seen as an iconographic figure and certain attributes appear
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repeatedly in representations of her down through the ages. This paper attempts
to pinpoint the true character of this religious figure who has inspired many artists
and writers. She has been a mysterious figure and this is clearly visible in the
way artists portray her. Her clothing, posture and demeanour are significant
elements in each individual depiction. The Magdalen is a significant figure in
relation to the modern woman, and she is responsible for many myths and
legends though many stray far from the truth. The paintings and other depictions
of her are partly responsible for the existence of such myths. Much has also been
written about her true significance in relation to her relationship to Jesus Christ,
but what kind of woman are we presented with by the artists who
painted/sculpted her? This paper will take a critical look at the Magdalen from
both the sacred and profane point of view, by artists from the Renaissance and
Baroque periods in particular.
Keizer, Joost (Universiteit Leiden) “Michelangelo's Absence”
In the wake of the Medici expulsion (1494), Florentines lost faith in religious
imagery. Believing that artists merely painted images that advertised their skills
instead of authentic faith (Savonarola, 1496), they sought refuge in
acheiropoetoi, images “made without human hands.” I argue that Michelangelo’s
Saint Matthew (1506) evidences these concerns with authorial presence. In it,
the absent angel serves as the source of inspiration for both Matthew’s contorted
pose and the artist’s ingenium, presenting Michelangelo as a mere mediator of
divinely originated concepts, like an angel. Michelangelo’s sculpture mediates
between “art” and “acheiropoetos” by re-staging the artist as divine, as Michel
Agnolo.
Konowitz, Ellen (SUNY at New Paltz) “Geertgen tot Sint Jans and the
Imagination of Devotion”
Geertgen tot Sint Jans’s Night Nativity (London) and Crucifixion/Maria in Sole
diptych (Edinburgh-Rotterdam) show the Virgin adoring her son as she holds her
hands in the shape of a heart. This paper argues that Mary’s gesture directs the
viewers to the feelings and thoughts held in her heart, and encourages the
viewers to emulate Mary by creatively imagining Christ’s sacrifice in their own
hearts. The paper explores Geertgen’s panels as devotional aides, and examines
their significance for patrons associated with movements such as the Devotio
Moderna, which urged the devout to ruminate in their hearts on Christ’s birth and
death.
Konrad, Joel (McMaster University) “‘The Book of Nature’: Science, Method and
Inquiry in Tudor-Stuart England”
Many scholars attribute the rapid expansion of scientific discourses in
seventeenth-century England to Protestantism. However, these studies have
largely overlooked sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century scientists who
created the methodological foundations out of which the scientific revolution
emerged. My paper examines the impact of the Protestant method of individual
scriptural exegesis on the empirical epistemology of English scientists. I argue
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that the new form of scriptural interpretation was merely one of several catalysts
for the creation of modern science. Both the hermeticism and overseas
exploration were as, if not more, central to the establishment of the empirical
method of strict observation.
Lamauvinière, Abel (Université Reims) “Sainte Hélène où la mise en pratique
du culte d'une sainte à Troyes en Champagne au XIIIe siècle”
Au cours des XIIe-XIIIe siècles, alors que les comtes de Champagne s’en vont
en guerre, exportant, canalisant toute forme de violence qui existe sur le comté
de Champagne, un chapelain profite de ces croisades pour ramener quelques
reliques fort utiles. En 1209, Jean l'Anglois, chapelain de Garnier de Traînel,
apporte à Troyes le corps d'une sainte nommée Hélène dont l'identité inconnue
plonge le chapitre cathédral Saint-Pierre et l'évêque Hervé de Troyes,
successeur de Garnier, dans la plus grande perplexité. Il semble que la
confusion règne autour de l'identité de cette sainte. Embarrassés par le mystère
qui entoure l'origine de Sainte Hélène d'Athyra, l'évêque et son chapitre décident
de renvoyer Jean l'Anglois à Constantinople afin qu'il trouve des renseignements
sur la vie de cette sainte. Arrivé à Constantinople en 1215, Jean l'Anglois a
l'opportunité d'y rencontrer un compatriote, natif du village de Coubetault dans le
diocèse de Troyes: un dénommé Angermer, devenu lecteur de l'Église de
Chalcédoine. Jean l'Anglois lui demande de faire des recherches sur la vie de
cette sainte. Angermer rend compte de son enquête dans une lettre qu'il adresse
à l'évêque et au chapitre de Troyes. Très versé dans les lettres grecques, il dit
avoir retrouvé, dans les archives des bibliothèques de plusieurs églises, divers
traités sur la vie et les actions de cette sainte, dont une biographie composée par
Jean Chrysostome. Au détour de cet échange épistolaire, nous apprenons que la
sainte n'est autre que Sainte Hélène d'Athyra ou Naturas, ville située à l'ouest de
Constantinople au bord de la mer. Cette jeune vierge serait la fille du roi Agiel et
de la reine Gratulie. Dès sa plus tendre enfance, sa vie n'est qu'un tissu de
merveilles. Après sa mort, les miracles se poursuivent par l'intermédiaire de ses
reliques. Angermer déclare que la ville de Naturas célèbre toujours sa fête le 4
mai, tout en pleurant l'enlèvement des reliques de la sainte. Cette histoire,
qu'Angermer aurait traduite en latin à partir d'une composition grecque de Jean
Chrysostome, est en fait sortie de son imagination. Cette biographie édifiante
contient tous les éléments prouvant l'authenticité des reliques. Pour l’auteur, la
sainteté est d'abord une énergie la virtus, se manifestant par des indices d'ordre
physiologique. Par ailleurs, la sainteté est basée sur l'incorruptibilité du corps
saint d’une part et de l'odeur de sainteté d’autre part. Pour donner plus
d'authenticité à cette vie, Angermer dit l'avoir trouvée parmi les ouvrages anciens
de Jean Chrysostome. En réalité, il s’agit d'une composition du XIIIe siècle
destinée à authentifier à posteriori les reliques d'une sainte dont personne ne sait
rien. Il semble que la rédaction de cette biographie édifiante soit contemporaine
de celle de la lettre d'Angermer. L'hypothèse, que cette vie et la lettre
d'Angermer ont été toutes deux composées à Troyes et que la mission de Jean
l'Anglois et les recherches sont pures fiction, est fort probable. Cette composition
prouve, en tout cas, l'importance attachée à la reconnaissance des reliques
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byzantines: le culte de Sainte Hélène à Troyes ne peut s’instaurer qu'une fois
l'authenticité de ses reliques établie. Bien évidemment, il est nécessaire de
connaître les motivations qui ont poussé les individus à établir cette sainteté, à
aider à la mise en place de ce culte à travers la liturgie et un programme
iconographique exceptionnel, de connaître les moindres détails concernant les
confraternités qui se sont élaborées au fil du temps, de manière à saisir la place
d’Hélène dans la liturgie Troyenne médiévale.
Lang, Michelle (University of Nebraska at Kearney) “Nature, Faith, and Identity
in the Work of Adam Elsheimer”
Although he is now recognized as a pioneer of an increasingly naturalistic or
‘Baroque’ style there has been little attention paid to the religious beliefs of Adam
Elsheimer (1578-1610). It is known that Elsheimer was baptized Lutheran in the
relatively liberal city of Frankfurt, where his early artistic models and
commissions were both Protestant and Cathoic, and that he converted to the
latter faith in 1606, in Rome, where he was part of a small circle of expatriate
artists and intellectuals which included Peter Paul Rubens, Johannes Faber, and
Caspar Scoppius, who is usually credited with inspiring Elsheimer’s conversion.
Recent research has revealed the extent to which these contacts provided
Elsheimer with intellectual inspiration: the discovery of the True Cross, for
example, had received prior attention from Rubens and the ecclesiastical
historian Cardinal Baronius; the actual night sky (depicted for the first time in
Elsheimer’s Flight into Egypt) was a current preoccupation of another figure close
to the group, Galileo Galilei. Elsheimer’s emphasis on the naturalism of Creation,
Incarnation and Sanctification within the context of traditional narratives can be
linked to the documented beliefs of such Catholic contemporaries as Cardinal
Federico Borromeo. But in many of Elsheimer’s most vivid religious works,
including the Frankfurt Altarpiece, both his unique compositions and his
particular, innovative version of the Early Baroque style suggest a more personal
interpretation of faith. Indeed, in the context of no written account of his beliefs,
these visual ‘texts’ provide vital clues about this particular aspect of Elsheimer’s
artistic identity.
Lapointe, Mélissa (Université du Québec à Chicoutimi) “Enjeux rhétoriques de
l'exemplum marial chez Marguerite de Navarre”
La poésie de la reine Marguerite de Navarre est tributaire d’une époque qui
s’ouvre en pleine effervescence religieuse causée par les balbutiements de la
Réforme et menée par les premiers humanistes. Inspirée par le courant
évangélique, Marguerite se lance dans la composition d’une poétique empreinte
de mysticisme et de piété inspirée de la Devotio Moderna. Pour ce faire,
Marguerite utilise dans ses poèmes la stratégie de l’exemplum qui viendra, en
tant que preuve, renforcer l’argumentation du poème. Les exempla
particulièrement convaincants sont ceux concernant la Vierge. Notre
communication portera notamment sur le sens des exempla, sur les stratégies
rhétoriques qu’ils mettent en place, sur la compréhension de leurs enjeux
religieux et sur leurs visées didactiques.
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Lazzara, Damon (York University) “Dreaming in the Late Middle Ages as the
Therapeutic Reinforcement of Religious Ideology”
In 14th-century England, dream narratives had culminated as a vehicle of
Christian ideology, inspiring dream-sharing that reinforced the Christian
worldview. Writing from this context, the anonymous poet of the dream narrative
“Pearl” recorded the oneiric buttressing of his religious ideology within the
crucible of grief over a lost child. “Pearl” demands that its readers recognize the
capacity of the dream to lead them toward enlightenment and salvation, a
capacity articulated by preceding Christian dream narratives. “Pearl” also
prompts readers to submit themselves to individual and group analyses with
therapeutic ends in the Earthly life as well as the afterlife.
Leoni, Francesca (Princeton University) “Demonic Imagery in Early Modern
Iran”
After the spread of Islam, faith in one God coexisted with beliefs in other
entities—evil spirits (jinns) and demons (dīvs)—which not only lingered in
folklore, but also entered other realms of cultural production. Borrowed from
popular religion and transformed into literary, and artistic, devices, dīvs codified
specific ideas and served well-defined psychological needs. My paper analyses
their imagery and cultural implications in illustrated versions of the Shāhnāma
(“Book of Kings”)—the Persian national epic written by Firdawsi around 1010—
produced in the 16th century. It argues that images of demons developed the
scanty descriptions in the narrative by integrating details that reveal what was, in
fact, considered reproachable in the Iranian world. Through a form of word-image
interaction that is not based on direct correspondence, illustrations of dīvs
contributed to define the boundaries of appropriate personal and social behavior.
Their hodge-podges of disparate components emphasized abnormality and
disorder in visible contrast with the balance and composure that dominated other
(virtuous) figures in Persian painting. Such visual details—some of which, as
protruding genitals, were intentionally added at specific times—expressed
contemporary concerns that would not have found a more eloquent and
welcomed formulation. Therefore, the case of demonic imagery offers the
opportunity to challenge the derivative role traditionally attributed to miniature
painting in the Islamic world. It proves how the pictorial medium was able to
articulate relevant historical and cultural issues besides embellishing lavish
editions of classical works of Persian literature.
Löwensteyn, Machteld (Vrije Universiteit) “The Body Betrayed. The
Representation of Demonic Deception in the Visual Arts of the Northern and
Southern Netherlands during the Early Modern Period”
From the early Christian period and into early modern times the greatest
challenge for Christian believers was to resist the temptations of the Devil.
Temptation was more than a moral theological metaphor referring to the many
seductions of earthly, and consequently devilish, delights. It was the term that
described the actual physical interventions of the Devil and his accomplices
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within the human body and the natural world, both disturbing the mental faculties
and deluding the senses. In this paper I wish to consider how Netherlandish
artists, such as Hieronymus Bosch and Peter Brueghel the Elder, represented
these devilish interventions.
Mochizuki, Mia (Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley) “Rembrandt,
Iconoclasm, and the Religious Imagination”
Rembrandt's contribution to religious imagery in the Dutch Republic cannot be
fully understood without placing him within the dominant religious culture of his
period, that of the Reformed Church. This paper offers a fresh perspective on
Rembrandt's Moses with the Ten Commandments (1659, Berlin) by placing it at
the intersection of two trends: the disruption of the Veroniz, or "vera icon",
tradition of picture-making and the appearance of new Ten Commandments text
paintings throughout Dutch Reformed churches. This perspective reveals how
iconoclasm stimulated Rembrandt to imagine creative solutions to pictorial
traditions within the visual vernacular of his time.
Modesti, Paola (Università di Venezia) “A Builder Patron for Venice: The
Fifteenth-Century Rediscovery of Saint Magnus”
The era generating civic patron saints seemed to have ended when, in 1454,
Venice included Magnus – the seventh-century bishop of Oderzo and Heraclea
who supposedly built the earliest Venetian churches upon divine revelation – as
an adjunct to Mark and Theodore into her array of holy protectors. This paper
investigates less-considered questions of Magnus’s cult: how his legend was
created in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; what circumstances, purposes,
and fears led to his appointment as a city patron, and eventually how his
designation affected the rituals of the Republic and the lives of the churches
associated with him.
Novoa, James Nelson (University of Lisbon) “Blessed Amadeu de Silva’s
‘Apocalypsis nova’”
This singular work by a now forgotten author yet greatly influential during his
lifetime is an ideal synthesis of Faith and Fantasy. Written by an obscure
Portuguese Franciscan at the time of Pope Sixtus IV who created a new religious
order, the work undertakes a vast enterprise: to provide a radically new
interpretation of revelation and, in many respects cast him in the guise of a
precursor of the Reformation. Many doctrinal and institutional questions are
radically revised, breaking openly with the Roman Church of his time. A central
consideration of this paper will be his use of Old Testament sources and possible
Jewish sources which may have made up de Silva’s radically new world view
which was most influential in the early part of the sixteenth century in Rome.
Ouasti, Bouissif (Université de Tétouan) “Spiritualité et imaginaire chez le
Globe-trotter marocain Ibn Battûta”
Nous voudrions analyser dans cette communication comment le grand voyageur
Ibn Battûta, contemporain de Marco Polo, a pu effectuer un long périple autour
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du monde musulman médiéval, du Soudan aux confins de la Chine, en passant
par l’Andalousie. Ce Magistrat musulman, est parti au pèlerinage à l’âge de 22
ans, démuni et converti en initié Soufi (mystique). Il a beaucoup fréquenté les
monastères, les retraites des anachorètes, les confréries, les cercles fermés des
corporations professionnelles chevaleresques la Futuwwa et les Akhilik des
Turcomans de l’Asie Mineure (Cf. Massignon), ainsi que les cours des princes
musulmans ou non. Juge et censeur religieux, il a fait preuve d’une ouverture et
d’une tolérance dignes d’un dialogisme culturel respectueux de toutes les
cultures et les civilisations traversées. Il a composé un récit de voyage, en
collaboration avec un féru de rhétorique et de l’écriture littéraire, qui se fonde sur
des convictions spirituelles et tolérantes à valeur universelle. Dans l’imaginaire
de ce récit de voyage se mêlent le mysticisme à l’utopie, la religion à la sexualité
(femmes orientales et aphrodisiaques), la légende au réel, les curiosa au la
mirabilia… Tous ces affluents aident la mémoire du voyageur à la création d’un
univers fantastique et réaliste, d’un monde d’une dimension humaine et
foncièrement mondialisante.
Palma, Pina (Southern Connecticut State University) “Faith and Fantasy, God
and Man: Purgatorio XXV and Inferno XXV”
In Purgatorio XXV sun, wine, and blood are images used to explain the genesis
of the soul. In Inferno XXV, on the other hand, these elements describe the
corruption that erodes social and political stability. The anthropomorphic
transformations of the Florentine souls reveal the social disintegration that occurs
when civil and divine laws are scorned. Dante’s fantastic transformations in
Inferno XXV illustrate the convergence of faith and fantasy. Specifically, while
in Purgatorio XXV Dante establishes that Christian foundations underpin lawabiding societies, in Inferno XXV, through fantastic imagery, he shows that
straying away from theological teachings destabilizes society.
Perlove, Shelley Karen (University of Michigan-Dearborn) “Rembrandt and the
Jerusalem Temple”
Rembrandt centered many of his religious subjects around Jews and Jerusalem,
particularly the Temple with its priests, Pharisees, rites, and traditions, often in
relation to the activities of Christ and the emergence of the apostolate church.
The primitive church was viewed as a model of reform by many religious groups
in Holland and all aspects of the Temple of the era of Christ attracted
contemporary interest. This paper examines the artist's interpretations of Temple
architecture, priests, councils, furnishings, and rituals in scenes of Christ's
infancy and situates his Temple "reconstructions" within the context of
contemporary Hebraic scholarship.
Powrie, Sarah (University of Notre Dame) “Interpreting the Heavens: Medieval
Dream Visions and the Opening of Experimental Horizons”
Kepler’s Somnium and comparable fictions of alternative worlds are considered
outgrowths of early modern cartography and astronomy. However, these literary
explorations also derive from medieval dream visions, a genre which relocates its
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subject in a hypothetical space to test naturalistic theories and epistemological
presuppositions. Dante's narrative passed the moon's sphere some three
centuries before Kepler's did. Nicole Oresme’s dream vision speculated that the
planets were not proportioned in Pythagorean intervals. Nicholas of Cusa
situated himself on an imaginary planet to observe the universe from a new
perspective. These narratives each reposition the self beyond the borders of
micro and macrocosm, so as to transcend or correct the limitations of perception.
This paper will examine “journeys of the mind”, considering the relation of
allegorical, experimental and skeptical modes, the epistemological
presuppositions shaping each fictional vision, and the resulting transformation of
the sky from a spiritualized heavenly sphere to an objectified space with
observable idiosyncrasies.
Pugliese, Olga Zorzi (University of Toronto) “Machiavelli’s Imaginative Use of
Parody in his Treatment of Religion”
Machiavelli’s concept of religion as an instrument of politics is well known and is
largely to blame for his early condemnation during the Counter-Reformation.
Equally notorious, even if at times veiled or expressed in fictitious literary modes,
are his satirical observations on the religious institutions of his day and their
representatives. One minor work that has attracted little attention is his parody of
the statutes of religious confraternities, titled Capitoli per una compagnia di
piacere. My paper will examine this lesser known aspect of Machiavelli’s
treatment of religion within the context of his writings and will highlight, in
particular, Machiavelli’s use of humour as a satirical tool.
Radi, Lidia (University of Richmond) “Rhétorique de la foi: L’effacement de la
parole de David dans les actions de François 1er”
“Littera occidit, spiritus autem vivificat: car le sens des escriptures et non pas la
lettre donne fruict en la cité de Dieu” affirme Guillaume Michel dans la préface de
son Penser de Royal Memoire. Le rapport entre le discours prononcé et la
véritable nature de l’évènement transmis constitue la duplicité et en même temps
montre la problématique centrale au cœur de tout argument rhétorique. Dans ma
communication, j’examinerai comment Michel, à travers l’épître fictive de David à
François 1er, fait fonctionner au profit de la construction de l’habitus du roi de
France un mécanisme rhétorique propre à imprimer dans l’esprit des res
proprement dites, des vérités “spirituelles”.
Ramachandran, Ayesha (Yale University) “Early Modern Creationisms: Milton,
Lucretius and the Problem with Genesis”
Why did Milton choose to fictionalize the opening chapters of Genesis in
Paradise Lost at mid-century? Were there demands, other than those of writing a
Christian epic, that may have influenced and directed his poetic re-imagining of
scripture? This paper suggests that the revolutionary poet responds to two
specific influences by taking on the matter of Genesis: the Roman poet
Lucretius's De rerum natura, and the so-called "Genesis debates" associated
with the rise of critical theology and the challenges of the New Science. In both
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cases, Milton responds to the philosophical threat posed by the nature of
fictionality itself: could (and should) the Biblical text be read literally or as a
theologically-sanctioned fiction, a new kind of allegory for the early modern
world?
Saslow, James M. (CUNY, Queens College and Graduate Centre) “The
Paintings of Sodoma: A ‘Gay Gaze’ in Italian Religious Art”
Gianantonio Bazzi (1477-1549), nicknamed “Sodoma” (sodomite) for his
propensity for handsome youths, offers a case study in the intersection between
individual creativity and religious imagery. Beginning with frescoes for the
Benedictine monastery at Monteoliveto Maggiore (1505), Sodoma relished visual
signifiers of homosexual sensibilities: skimpily clad ephebes recalling antique
pederastic ideals, and foppish clothing associated with homosexuals. His
audience probably shared these interests, since brothers were proverbial for
sodomy. Sodoma depicts monks’ intimacy, both emotional and physical -touching, embracing, even flagellating one another. Such patterns of creation
and response suggest that religious art could embody and transmit private
desires.
Sellin, Christine Petra (California Lutheran University) “Abraham and Sarah
Among the Polygamophiles: Artistic, Theological and Literary Developments in
the 16th- and 17th-century Northern Netherlands”
During the Reformation, Old Testament scripture received greater, more
widespread scrutiny than ever before. This meant that complex or troubling
aspects of certain biblical stories required additional explanation, and, in certain
instances, patriarchal conduct was called into question. Such was the case with
an episode from the story of Abraham, when a barren Sarah arranges for her
Egyptian slave Hagar to become the patriarch's concubine in order to produce an
heir (Gen. 16:2-4). In the first half of the sixteenth century, this episode began to
trouble reformers. Was Abraham's coupling with Hagar not immoral behavior on
the part of the patriarch? Was this not adultery or polygamy? Biblical patriarchs
were heroes and role models for Christians and yet here, Church fathers
capitulated, one could not follow in Abraham's footsteps. Interpreters were faced
with reconciling saintly precedent with contemporary morality and civic law, a
task that became increasingly difficult with the advent of the Reformation and
dramatic changes in Protestant thinking about marriage. Questions concerning
Abraham's apparent polygamy would continue to crop up throughout the century
and resurface again in the seventeenth century. In the Netherlands, many
authors felt compelled to address this issue, reflecting a range of literary
attitudes: some took up traditional tacks to exonerate Abraham from the taint of
polygamy, but others, among those the most revered thinkers of the Reformation
and Dutch Puritanism, could not turn a blind eye to what they viewed as
patriarchal wrongdoing. Criticism of Sarah's conduct was voiced and she too
shared in the censure. This paper argues that early modern theological and
literary developments had implications for northern European art, and
seventeenth century Dutch art in particular. The theme is rare and first appears in
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a handful of mid-sixteenth century prints and paintings, where Sarah is shown
arranging the match or leading Hagar to Abraham's bed. In the seventeenth
century, some twenty "Presentation of Hagar" pictures survive, painted almost
exclusively by Netherlandish artists. In these erotically charged pictures, an old,
haggard Sarah directs a young, beautiful, partially clad or nude Hagar to an
elderly Abraham waiting in bed. Curiously, the appearance of these works
loosely coincided with a renewed, continent-wide discussion after the second half
of the seventeenth century about marriage, monogamy, and polygamy, in which
examples of concubinage, including Abraham's story, were revisited. The
imagery reflects or parallels certain theological and literary attitudes that
challenged traditional views of the biblical episode. Fundamentally, this paper
investigates the intersection of art, theology, literature, and social change.
Semmens, Justine (University of Calgary) “In the Light of the Virgin and the
Shadow of Eve: Inversion of Sacred Space and the Exploration of Imaginative
Power in Julian of Norwich's ‘Revelation of Divine Love’ and Mere Jeanne de
Lestonnac of Les Filles-Marie Notre Dame”
In Pre-modern European Catholicism, women's normative religious experience
was traditionally confined to enclosed space, based partly on limiting discourses
of gender in Medieval and Early Modern Europe that relegated women,
embodiments of mundane corporeality, to the sacred space of the cloister and
anchorhold in order to effectively contain their corporeality. Within the confines of
this 'limiting' space, some women chose to invert that space inward to the self or
outward to the world, into a locus of sacred power that they controlled and
operated imaginatively. I will look at two such women: Julian of Norwich and
Mere Jeanne de Lestonnac.
Sheppard, Philippa (University of Toronto) “Jewish-Christian Encounters
Depicted by Shakespeare and Michael Radford in ‘The Merchant of Venice’”
Film director Michael Radford alters Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice to make
it more accessible and palatable to contemporary audiences. He edits many of
the anti-Semitic lines in the play, focusing the anti-Jewish sentiments in the
character of Antonio. Radford chooses to portray the Christian convert Jessica as
wistful for her own Jewish people. He also cuts much of the debate on the theme
of usury, so charged in Shakespeare's day, yet no longer an issue now, when
every bank charges interest and contemporary Christians think nothing of it.
Moreover, Radford alters the moral viewpoint of the play; Shylock, no longer a
comic villain devoid of mercy as Shakespeare intended, is rather a man driven to
desperation by his society's persecution.
Sugar, Gabrielle (York University) “Christianity on the Moon: The Fantastical
World of Francis Godwin”
Early in the seventeenth century, Galileo’s telescopic discoveries revealed
extraordinary knowledge about the universe, in particular, that the Moon is like a
second Earth, covered with mountains and fissures. Bishop Francis Godwin
responded to this new knowledge in his The Man in the Moon (pub. 1638), one of
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the first works of science fiction. Godwin explores the imaginative possibilities of
this new vision of the cosmos in his story about a voyage to the Moon, and its
inhabitants. However, Godwin’s text reveals the considerable impact that
Christianity continued to have on the conception of the cosmos. When Godwin’s
character first arrives on the moon, he is shocked by the strangeness of the
Lunar people, and so he calls out Jesus’ name in amazement. Upon hearing that
name, the Lunar beings fall down on their knees in prayer. The Lunar people are
Christians. My paper argues that Godwin attempts to merge the new vision of the
universe with his religious values, in a precarious balance between the two
ideologies. However, Godwin’s Christianity nonetheless functions to limit his
creative possibilities.
Uppenkamp, Barbara (Independent Scholar, Germany) “The Column of
Predestination: Some Remarks on Invention in Protestant Reformed Imagery”
My paper concentrates on the motif of the column in Calvinist art. The column is
associated with the Calvinist idea of predestination. It appears in prints published
by theologians like Beza (Tabula praedestinationis, 1555). Here, it is a pictorial
element within a diagrammatic structure. This leads to the study of early modern
method, where invention means the identification of a topic and its placing within
a defined structure. This suits the notion of Calvinist art as an art of adaptation
and reconfiguration. Going beyond a purely iconographical study, I intend to
demonstrate the interaction of print and other media.
*Vandenbroeck, Paul (Antwerp Royal Museum of High Arts) “Beauty and
Madness: Hieronymus Bosch and His Contemporaries”
Although the late middle ages developed a deeply rooted fear of 'madness' as
counterpart to its rationalist ethics and its growing desire to withdraw 'fools' from
society, visual artists used creative methodologies stemming from folly: 'grillen',
grotesques, drolleries, and 'disparates'. In doing so, they followed a path welltrodden by their contemporaries: musicians developed the 'folia' genre, and
writers created the 'fatras(ies)', 'resveries' and other nonsense poetry... Bosch's
art was highly paradoxical: it plays with uncontrollable fancy but defends an
intellectualist and rationalist ethic. A similar worldview was shared by provincial
humanists around 1500 with their 'barbarolexis' literature.
Vernet, Max (Queen’s University) “‘Ces narrés vains et creux...’: Jean-Pierre
Camus, évêque et romancier”
Entre les années 1620 et 1650 (il meurt en 1652), Jean-Pierre Camus, qui arrive
en 1609 dans son évêché de Belley se lance dans une étrange entreprise.
Convaincu de l'utilité de l'écriture pour faire passer le message post-tridentin,
mais horrifié par la propagation du roman "dans tout l'Europe", il se propose de
"contre-butter" ces dangereux "narrés" en inventant un genre nouveau: l'Histoire
dévote. Écrivain d'une fécondité prodigieuse, tant pour la controverse que pour la
fiction, Camus écrit alors romans et nouvelles, les encadrant et les
accompagnant de péritextes visant à guider la lecture. Cette communication
voudrait préciser les rapports à mon avis tout à fait originaux que Camus instaure
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entre lecture et écriture romanesques, et la relation entre scripteur et lecteur,
toute fondée sur une conception de la Charité très marquée par la ContreRéforme salésienne.
Viñas del Palacio, Yolanda Cristina (Universidad de Salamanca) “A la manière
divine ou la poésie comme imitation dans les ‘Théorèmes’ de Jean de La
Ceppède”
Les Théorèmes de La Ceppède imitent la sage éloquence d'un Dieu qu'ils ne
veulent pas poète, mais artiste, car il a choisi de se manifester ouvertement dans
et par le Verbe. Pour le suivre, le poète doit renoncer aux prestiges du verba et
lutter contre le mirage de l'image. La poésie se veut désormais sacrifice.
Annoncer, c'est renoncer.
Wislicz, Tomasz (Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences) “Talking to
the Devil in the Early Modern Popular Imagination”
What did the devil speak of in a Catholic Marian sanctuary? Why did the faithful
listen to the Prince of Liars? What kind of questions did they ask and how did
they understand his answers? Post-Tridentine Church in the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth fostered an enormous popularity of pilgrimages to miraculous
sanctuaries of the Virgin Mary, where it was not uncommon to witness exorcisms
of the possessed. The expelled devils were forced to hold a conversation with the
exorcist who served the Church. My paper will focus on the cultural context of
that mental representation.
Wolanski, Filip (Wroclaw University, Poland) “The Intercession of the Saints in
Old Polish Sermons in the First Half of the 17th Century”
This paper is aimed at analyzing the view of Polish Saints in old Polish sermons
in the first half of the 17th century. I will show the main reasons of the appeal of
the Saints’ intercession. Then, I will characterize the justification argument of the
particular Saints’ role and importance of their care in the moments of danger to
the motherland. I will also show some peculiar aspects of the Polish Saints’ cult
that were characteristic to the old Polish Catholic religiosity. Whilst referring to
the sermons role, I will also analyze the relationship between the Saints’ image,
their activities and the moral values that they promoted, in old Polish society.
Yu, Hui-Chu (Southern Taiwan University of Technology) “A Dialogue Between
Erasmus's ‘Enchiridion militis christiani’ and Tyndale's ‘The Obedience of a
Christian Man’”
This present study proposes to explore Erasmus’s Enchiridion militis christiani,
and Tyndale’s The Obedience of a Christian Man in the hope to illuminate the
stylistic variations between them and their diverse representations of secular
authority. The divergences between the two works signify not only variation of
personal styles but also Protestant statements of stronger intensity in Tyndale's,
which prescribes the supreme authority of the scripture along with royal
supremacy. This research expects to provide a profound insight into how the
European humanist scholar and the English Protestant reformer visualize an
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ideal Christendom in distinct manners.
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