In recent decades, the interactions between religious art(s) and literature(s) in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period have been an important area of study for many scholars. More particularly, the study of the interconnectedness of texts and images and of the contact zones between visual arts and literature constitutes an emerging field that is particularly stimulating for both art historians and historians of literature. These scholarly interests generate a range of general methodological and theoretical questions: how can a text be used to understand an image? How can an image help to discern the meaning of a text? How do we interpret texts and images together in order to understand the religious culture of these periods? How do we consider them in relation to each other, without underestimating the specificities of each medium? What are the purposes of the combined study of these sources?

A conference organised by Ingrid Falque and Geert Warnar at LUCAS (Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society) - 20-22 June 2013

In collaboration with GOLIATH, GEMCA (Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-La-Neuve) and the Scaliger Institute (Universiteit Leiden), and with the support of the “Fondation pour la protection du patrimoine culturel, historique et artisanal”(Lausanne)

Presentation

In recent decades, the interactions between religious art(s) and literature(s) in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period have been an important area of study for many scholars. More particularly, the study of the interconnectedness of texts and images and of the contact zones between visual arts and literature constitutes an emerging field that is particularly stimulating for both art historians and historians of literature. These scholarly interests generate a range of general methodological and theoretical questions: how can a text be used to understand an image? How can an image help to discern the meaning of a text? How do we interpret texts and images together in order to understand the religious culture of these periods? How do we consider them in relation to each other, without underestimating the specificities of each medium? What are the purposes of the combined study of these sources? The conference aims to explore not only the many forms of interactions between religious texts and images in this period, but also the methodological and theoretical issues they imply in order to sketch an overview of the different approaches used by scholars while studying texts and images together.

Program

Thursday 20 June

Moderator : Wim van Anrooij (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS)

• 13.30-13.40 : Welcome by Kitty Zijlmans, director of LUCAS
• 13.40-14.10 : Introduction (Ingrid Falque, Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS)
• 14.10-14.55 : Agnès Guiderdoni (Université Catholique de Louvain, GEMCA) - Locutiones figuratae: Neither Text Nor Image. Figurability of Mystical Experience in the Early Modern Period

Coffee break

• 15.15-16.00 : Paul Smith (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS) - Rereading Dürer’s Representations of The Fall of Man
• 16.30-17.30 : Keynote Lecture (open to the public): Walter Melion (Emory University, Atlanta) - Devota anima sese oblectari in dies poterit: The Tropes of Pasting, Printing, and Engraving in Martin Boschman's Paradisus precum selectarum of 1610

Friday 21 June

Moderator: Geert Warnar (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS)

• 9.15-10.00 :   Sanne de Vries (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS) - All roads lead to Rome. The Mass of St. Gregory and its Prayers
• 10.00-10.45 : Kees Schepers (Universiteit Antwerpen) - The draughtsman’s Library. Gielis vander Hecken, his Books and his Labyrinthi

Coffee break

• 11.15-12.00 : Aline Smeesters (Université Catholique de Louvain, GEMCA) - The text/image relationship in Herman Hugo's Pia Desideria (1624)
• 12.00-12.45 : Ralph Dekoninck (Université Catholique de Louvain, GEMCA) - "To give spirit to the mute figure". The enlivening word and the animated image in the early-modern spiritual literature

12.45-14.15 : Lunch

Moderator: Agnès Guiderdoni (Université Catholique de Louvain, GEMCA)

• 14.15-15.00 : Stijn Bussels (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS) & Bram van Oostveldt (Universiteit van Amsterdam) - 'Vondel's Brethren: Defending the Performance of the Word of God
• 15.00-15.45 : Bart Ramakers (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) - Looking through, seeing clearly. Imagination, meditation and cognition in Cornelis Everaert's play of Mary compared to the light

Coffee brea

16.15-17.00 : Jürgen Pieters (Universiteit van Gent, GOLIATH) - title to be announced

Saturday 22 June

Moderator: Ingrid Falque (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS)

• 10.00-10.45 : Elliott Wise (Emory University, Atlanta) - “Hidden Sons of God”: Baptism and Transfiguration in Rogier van der Weyden’s St. John Triptych
• 10.45-11.30 : Reindert Falkenburg (NYU Abu Dhabi) - Speculation as a solid mode of interpretation: 'reading' Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights

Coffee break

• 12.00-12.45 : Geert Warnar (Universiteit Leiden, LUCAS) - Elckerlijc and Provoost
• 12.45-13.15 : Concluding remarks

Information and Registration: Ingrid Falque (i.m.j.falque@hum.leidenuniv.nl)