Books by Matthijs Jonker
Papers of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, 70, 2022
The Florentine Accademia del Disegno (founded in 1563) and the Roman Accademia di San Luca (found... more The Florentine Accademia del Disegno (founded in 1563) and the Roman Accademia di San Luca (founded c. 1593) where the first official art academie in Europe. In their early years these institutions performed a variety of functions, which included the organization of funerals and religious feasts, establishing and enforcing rules about the organization of workshops, teaching young painters, sculptors and architects the principles of their arts, and maintaining relationships with potential patrons. By seeing them as crossing points of religious. guild, educational and patronage practices this book presents a multifaceted and comprehensive understanding of these academies. As such it goes beyond previous interpretations, where they were reduced to one of their activities (e.g. patronage). The book also offers the first sustained comparison of the Accademia del Disegno and the Accademia di San Luca. The focus on "social practices" entails the application of insights of theories of practice to a cultural-historical research object. The development of theories of practice, especially those of Pierre Bourdieu and Theodore Schatzki, is the second objective of this study, in addition to improving the understandin of the Accademia del Disegno and the Accademia di San Luca in the early years of their existence.
Summary in Dutch of my dissertation
Summary in English of my dissertation
Papers by Matthijs Jonker
Journal for the History of Knowledge, 2021
This dissertation offers a comprehensive interpretation of the first official art academies in Eu... more This dissertation offers a comprehensive interpretation of the first official art academies in Europe, the Florentine Accademia del Disegno (1563) and the Roman Accademia di San Luca (1593). By conceiving these academies as crossing points of patronage, literary-theoretical, guild, educational, and religious-confraternal practices this study presents a multifaceted and integral understanding of these institutions. As such it rejects previous interpretations, in which these academies are reduced to one of their activities (e.g. patronage). The focus on ‘social practices’ entails the application of insights of theories of practice to a cultural-historical research object. The development of theories of practice, especially those of Pierre Bourdieu and Theodore Schatzki, is the second objective of this study, in addition to improving the understanding of the Accademia del Disegno and the Accademia di San Luca in the early years of their existence. The abovementioned practices of the ar...
Incontri. Rivista europea di studi italiani, 2019
Journal for the History of Knowledge, 2021
This article offers new insights into the relationship between science and art in the early moder... more This article offers new insights into the relationship between science and art in the early modern period by focusing on the concepts and practices of disegno (meaning a physical drawing or a mental design) in two Roman academies around 1600: the Accademia di San Luca and the Accademia dei Lincei. The first president of the Accademia di San Luca, Federico Zuccari, developed an elaborate theory of art that centered on the concept of disegno. More than other contemporary art theorists, Zuccari explicitly connected the process of artistic production to that of knowledge acquisition, and he described his theory of disegno as belonging to natural philosophy. The first part of the article provides a more profound interpretation of the relationship between the theoretical and the practical parts of Zuccari's theory than has hitherto been given. His views of the relationship between knowledge acquisition and artistic production play a central role in this interpretation. The second part shows how his theory of disegno informed his ideas for the step-by-step training program of the Accademia di San Luca. In the third part, Zuccari's theory of art is used to analyze the functions of the disegni (drawings, woodcuts, and engravings) and the artists the Accademia dei Lincei employed for its scientific projects in the first half of the seventeenth century. Seen through the lens of Zuccari's theory, it is possible to understand the images as well as the artists themselves as instruments in the Lincean investigation of nature and to explain the different categoriesacademic or non-academic-used to distinguish among the different levels of proficiency that artists could attain.
Roma 1629: Una microstoria dell'arte, 2020
The early period of the Accademia di San Luca is traditionally interpreted as an important moment... more The early period of the Accademia di San Luca is traditionally interpreted as an important moment in a longer history of theorization, professionalization, and institutionalization of the arts. Historians of art usually focus on the academy’s attempts to control artistic education and the art market in Rome. This article takes a different approach by providing a reconstruction of the manifold activities carried out by the academy during a single year: 1629. This microhistorical approach, which makes use of archival sources such as minutes of meetings and account books from the Archivio di Stato and the Archivio dell'Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, shows that during this “normal” year other activities, such as celebrating religious feasts and maintaining patronage relations, were at least as important for the academy as education and controlling the profession. Therefore, precisely by narrowing the focus to a single year of the academy’s activity it is possible to arrive at a less reductive and more comprehensive understanding of this institution.
In particular, the article discusses four cultural practices carried out by the Accademia di San Luca in 1629: 1. Guild-administrative, 2. Religious-confraternal, 3. Artistic-educational, and 4. Patronage practices. These practices are reconstructed and distinguished from each other by focusing on the skills that were required from, the rules that were observed by, and the goals that were pursued by the participants. Moreover, the article shows how these practices could converge with each other, as in the case of the organization of the feast of St. Luke, or come into conflict with each other, as in the election of the new principe. Finally, the various types of power relations that were at work in this institution are discussed, e.g. between different types of artists (painters, embroiderers, sculptors) or between the academicians and their patron (Cardinal Francesco Barberini).
Incontri - Rivista Europea di studi Italiani, 2019
L’Accademia dei Lincei fu una delle prime istituzioni scientifiche moderne. Il progetto più ambiz... more L’Accademia dei Lincei fu una delle prime istituzioni scientifiche moderne. Il progetto più ambizioso dell’accademia fu la pubblicazione del Tesoro messicano, un esteso compendio sulla storia naturale del Messico, sul quale i Lincei lavorarono tra il 1611 e il 1651 basandosi sui manoscritti del medico del re di Spagna, Francisco Hernández. La pubblicazione di un trattato scientifico come il Tesoro nel Seicento a Roma richiedeva la mobilizzazione di un ampio network. Questo articolo si concentra sulle quattro principali “pratiche culturali” con le quali i Lincei realizzarono questo libro − pratiche di patronato, scienza, arte e pubblicazione, mostrando in quale misura queste pratiche fossero collegate.
I Lincei plasmavano e coltivavano un network di patronato attraverso la donazione a diversi prelati di libri contenenti immagini delle piante descritte nel Tesoro e con un estratto relativo agli animali messicani. Successivamente essi utilizzavano lo stesso network di patronato per verificare le descrizioni dei manoscritti, per entrare in contatto con gli artisti che avrebbero dovuto creare le illustrazioni e per ottenere i privilegi e l’imprematur, necessari per la pubblicazione del Tesoro a Roma. La ricostruzione di queste pratiche dovrà portare a una conoscenza più completa sia del progetto del Tesoro che dei motivi per il ritardo della pubblicazione.
Material Culture: Präsenz und Sichtbarkeit von Künstlern, Zünften und Bruderschaften in der Vormoderne / Presence and Visibility of Artists, Guilds, Brotherhoods in the Premodern Era, 2017
Exactly 450 years ago, in June 1565, the Cappella di San Luca in Santissima Annunziata in Florenc... more Exactly 450 years ago, in June 1565, the Cappella di San Luca in Santissima Annunziata in Florence was conceded to the Accademia del Disegno, the first official art academy, which had been founded two years earlier. The academy was not only a school for young artists, but it also functioned as a religious lay confraternity and, from 1571 onwards, as the guild of painters, sculptors, and architects of Florence. In the scholarly literature on this institution (Summers 1969, Wazbinski 1987, Barzman 2000, Pacini 2001) the Cappella di San Luca has always been identified exclusively as the site where the academy performed its confraternal functions, such as celebrating religious feasts and burying deceased members. Furthermore, it is generally thought that the academy used spaces in other buildings as classroom, library, study, administrative office, and meeting room.
However, a close scrutiny of the documents in the academy’s archive, and especially of the subsequent Libri dei Provveditori, which contain the minutes of the meetings, reveals a different picture. These documents show that during the first sixteen years of the academy’s existence – from 1563 until 1579 – the Cappella di San Luca was the main location where the academicians held their meetings and carried out their administrative activities, in addition to their religious rituals. For example, the academy elected its officers and new members in this chapel. It also was the site where the academicians drafted the petition to the Grand Duke, in which they asked to be released from the obligations to their respective guilds and to form a guild of their own. This means that during this formative period of the academy the chapel was of greater importance than has hitherto been assumed.
This paper presents a new interpretation of the Cappella di San Luca, in which its double function – confraternal and administrative-professional – is taken into account. It does so, moreover, by focusing on the material objects and artifacts that were used for carrying out the various activities. For example, in the context of the confraternal practices, the candles that were carried around in public processions, such as on the occasion of the funeral of Benvenuto Cellini in 1571, will be discussed. And in relation to the administrative function, paraphernalia such as the bags with black and white beans that were used for casting votes on candidate members and officers are included in the analysis.
The statues and frescoes that adorn the chapel constitute a particularly important ingredient in this interpretation, because these artifacts performed functions in both religious and professional practices. In the past it has been correctly recognized that the main theme of the iconographic program, i.e. the trinity, alludes both to the three natures of the divinity and to the three arts of design. However, until now it has remained unclear how these allusions were connected to the activities that were carried out in the chapel. With the help of analyses of the archival documents and of the iconographical program these activities can be reconstructed. Archival records reveal that during the period when the bulk of the decorations where completed, 1570-1571, the academicians also discussed the formalization of their institution into an autonomous guild for the three arts (i.e. trinity) of Disegno. This paper considers how the artifacts in the Cappella di San Luca reflect both the religious and the professional self-understanding of the artists in the academy.
Incontri, 2010
This article presents a new interpretation of Guido Reni’s Abduction of Helen from a practice the... more This article presents a new interpretation of Guido Reni’s Abduction of Helen from a practice theoretical perspective. This perspective entails that the meaning of a work of art is related to its function in a ‘social practice’, rather than as an intrinsic or essential property it somehow possesses. The starting point of the discussion here is the essentialist concept of meaning which forms the basis of Anthony Colantuono’s interpretation of Reni’s Abduction of Helen. However, Reni’s Abduction of Helen had different functions, and therefore meanings, in three distinct social practices. In the diplomatic practice it could be used as reference to both the virtuous and immoral actions that are related to the Trojan War. In the painting practice it was used to affirm the status of the painter as a liberal artist and of the profession of painting as a liberal art. And in the literary practice it was an ‘excuse’ for poets to enter in a literary competition. The consecutive interpretation of the plural meanings of Reni’s Abduction of Helen with the help of a practice approach can be used as an example for future art historical research, and presents a step beyond the search for singular meanings that have dominated traditional art history this far.
De Zeventiende Eeuw, 2008
This article discusses, from a philosophical perspective, two recent art historical debates about... more This article discusses, from a philosophical perspective, two recent art historical debates about Dutch seventeenth¬century art. With the help of the American philosopher Theodore Schatzki’s practice approach, both the iconological debate, in which Eddy de Jongh and Svetlana Alpers are the main antagonists, and the debate about the methods and presuppositions of the Rembrandt Research Project are presented in a new light. It is shown that in both cases the traditional and essentialist conception of meaning of works of art still plays a fundamental but problematic role. Schatzki’s theory makes it possible to go beyond this essentialism and to further academic art history, by offering a new framework for research. In this framework, the meaning of works of art is strongly connected to the function they have in social practices.
Book Reviews by Matthijs Jonker
History of Humanities 7.1, pp. 107-109, 2022
Conference Presentations by Matthijs Jonker
Co-organized panel session on epistemic imagery in France, Italy and Mexico
Spaces of Art: Concepts and Impacts In and Outside Latin America. Transregional Academy on Latin American Art III, Mexico City, 2019
In recent years globalizing approaches have become more and more popular in the historiography of... more In recent years globalizing approaches have become more and more popular in the historiography of art and science. This development can be seen as a critique of the practice and material turns of the last two decades of the twentieth century, in which the local production of art and knowledge were highlighted. One of the central points of the criticism on these “localist” approaches is that they seem to be unable to explain large-scale developments and the apparent globalization or delocalization of art and science. One of the main goals of my research project is to develop a practice approach that is able to connect the local production of art and knowledge to their global dissemination. In line with the current developments in global historiography my approach rejects the center-periphery dichotomy as well as notions of “influence” and “survival”. Instead, it focuses on processes of negotiation, as well as on the circulation, appropriation and translation of artistic forms and knowledge in the trading or contact zones where cultures and practices meet.
In this paper I want to apply my practice approach to the images of flora and fauna in the Tesoro messicano and the sixteenth-century mural paintings of the Augustinian monastery in Malinalco (Mexico). In both cases the images are the product of an exchange or negotiation between Amerindian and European “artists” and “scientists”. Whereas the woodcuts in the Tesoro messicano are the result of the transformation of the color drawings of the Amerindian tlacuiloque (painter-scribes), who aided Hernández during his scientific expedition, into images that were understandable to a European audience, the Malinalco murals are the product of native artists who had been trained by European painters. During the Academy I will interpret both cases in spatial terms, namely as contact zones where European and Amerindian knowledge and artistic forms were interchanged in spiritual and healing practices. In this interpretation the Tesoro messicano is seen as an epistemological contact zone, while the paintings in Malinalco are conceived as a physical contact zone. Comparison of these contact zones is fruitful both for understanding the concept of space in art historiography and for furthering the understanding of process of negotiation and transformation of Amerindian knowledge in the production of the Tesoro messicano.
Gewina Woudschoten Conference, 2019
The idea of the history of knowledge is predicated on the increasing focus on practice and on the... more The idea of the history of knowledge is predicated on the increasing focus on practice and on the local nature of knowledge in the historiography of science since the 1980s. Although this development has opened the way for artisanal, indigenous and other forms of knowledge to be studied on equal footing with Western science, it also leads to a pressing question: How can the focus on practice and the local account for the apparent delocalization/globalization of knowledge? The paper answers this question by shifting the attention from scientific practices (e.g. instrument making, observation) to social practices in which knowledge gets translated, appropriated and adapted.
Concretely, the paper compares early modern European and Mesoamerican healing practices as reflected in the Tesoro messicano, a book on the natural history of Mexico, published by the Accademia dei Lincei in 1651 and based on the confrontation between European and Aztec knowledge of botany and medicine. The paper argues that the different organization of these practices – in terms of goals, general understanding of the world, rules and skills required from practitioners – entails that knowledge played a different role in these practices, and that delocalization/globalization can be understood by focusing on the transformation of their organization.
Scientiae Conference Belfast, 2019
In 1651, the Roman Accademia dei Lincei published its long-awaited encyclopedia of the natural hi... more In 1651, the Roman Accademia dei Lincei published its long-awaited encyclopedia of the natural history of Mexico, known as the Tesoro messicano. The importance of this book for the history of science lies in the systematic coupling of descriptions and woodcut images of the flora and fauna and in the fact that it was based on material that was collected and produced in Mexico, partly by indigenous informants with knowledge of botany and medicine. Unfortunately, the original manuscripts with color images produced by indigenous artists that formed the basis for the Lincean woodcuts were destroyed in a fire in 1671. For this reason it remains unclear how the indigenous knowledge was transformed and translated into the European context in the Tesoro messicano.
The paper will attempt to answer this question by comparing the woodcuts in the Tesoro with the color images in other botanical and medicinal treatises that originated in Mexico in the same period with the help of indigenous artists and informants, such as the Badiano Codex. The plants in the Badiano Codex were rendered within their surrounding environment and in more stylized fashion than the more detailed and ‘naturalistic’ images in the Tesoro. This suggests that the indigenous medicinal practices were derived from a more symbolical and holistic vision of nature and that the Lincei Europeanized the indigenous knowledge by individualizing the specimens, which made them easier to classify. The ultimate aim of the paper is to further our understanding of the global nature of the ‘Scientific Revolution’.
Uploads
Books by Matthijs Jonker
Papers by Matthijs Jonker
In particular, the article discusses four cultural practices carried out by the Accademia di San Luca in 1629: 1. Guild-administrative, 2. Religious-confraternal, 3. Artistic-educational, and 4. Patronage practices. These practices are reconstructed and distinguished from each other by focusing on the skills that were required from, the rules that were observed by, and the goals that were pursued by the participants. Moreover, the article shows how these practices could converge with each other, as in the case of the organization of the feast of St. Luke, or come into conflict with each other, as in the election of the new principe. Finally, the various types of power relations that were at work in this institution are discussed, e.g. between different types of artists (painters, embroiderers, sculptors) or between the academicians and their patron (Cardinal Francesco Barberini).
I Lincei plasmavano e coltivavano un network di patronato attraverso la donazione a diversi prelati di libri contenenti immagini delle piante descritte nel Tesoro e con un estratto relativo agli animali messicani. Successivamente essi utilizzavano lo stesso network di patronato per verificare le descrizioni dei manoscritti, per entrare in contatto con gli artisti che avrebbero dovuto creare le illustrazioni e per ottenere i privilegi e l’imprematur, necessari per la pubblicazione del Tesoro a Roma. La ricostruzione di queste pratiche dovrà portare a una conoscenza più completa sia del progetto del Tesoro che dei motivi per il ritardo della pubblicazione.
However, a close scrutiny of the documents in the academy’s archive, and especially of the subsequent Libri dei Provveditori, which contain the minutes of the meetings, reveals a different picture. These documents show that during the first sixteen years of the academy’s existence – from 1563 until 1579 – the Cappella di San Luca was the main location where the academicians held their meetings and carried out their administrative activities, in addition to their religious rituals. For example, the academy elected its officers and new members in this chapel. It also was the site where the academicians drafted the petition to the Grand Duke, in which they asked to be released from the obligations to their respective guilds and to form a guild of their own. This means that during this formative period of the academy the chapel was of greater importance than has hitherto been assumed.
This paper presents a new interpretation of the Cappella di San Luca, in which its double function – confraternal and administrative-professional – is taken into account. It does so, moreover, by focusing on the material objects and artifacts that were used for carrying out the various activities. For example, in the context of the confraternal practices, the candles that were carried around in public processions, such as on the occasion of the funeral of Benvenuto Cellini in 1571, will be discussed. And in relation to the administrative function, paraphernalia such as the bags with black and white beans that were used for casting votes on candidate members and officers are included in the analysis.
The statues and frescoes that adorn the chapel constitute a particularly important ingredient in this interpretation, because these artifacts performed functions in both religious and professional practices. In the past it has been correctly recognized that the main theme of the iconographic program, i.e. the trinity, alludes both to the three natures of the divinity and to the three arts of design. However, until now it has remained unclear how these allusions were connected to the activities that were carried out in the chapel. With the help of analyses of the archival documents and of the iconographical program these activities can be reconstructed. Archival records reveal that during the period when the bulk of the decorations where completed, 1570-1571, the academicians also discussed the formalization of their institution into an autonomous guild for the three arts (i.e. trinity) of Disegno. This paper considers how the artifacts in the Cappella di San Luca reflect both the religious and the professional self-understanding of the artists in the academy.
Book Reviews by Matthijs Jonker
Conference Presentations by Matthijs Jonker
In this paper I want to apply my practice approach to the images of flora and fauna in the Tesoro messicano and the sixteenth-century mural paintings of the Augustinian monastery in Malinalco (Mexico). In both cases the images are the product of an exchange or negotiation between Amerindian and European “artists” and “scientists”. Whereas the woodcuts in the Tesoro messicano are the result of the transformation of the color drawings of the Amerindian tlacuiloque (painter-scribes), who aided Hernández during his scientific expedition, into images that were understandable to a European audience, the Malinalco murals are the product of native artists who had been trained by European painters. During the Academy I will interpret both cases in spatial terms, namely as contact zones where European and Amerindian knowledge and artistic forms were interchanged in spiritual and healing practices. In this interpretation the Tesoro messicano is seen as an epistemological contact zone, while the paintings in Malinalco are conceived as a physical contact zone. Comparison of these contact zones is fruitful both for understanding the concept of space in art historiography and for furthering the understanding of process of negotiation and transformation of Amerindian knowledge in the production of the Tesoro messicano.
Concretely, the paper compares early modern European and Mesoamerican healing practices as reflected in the Tesoro messicano, a book on the natural history of Mexico, published by the Accademia dei Lincei in 1651 and based on the confrontation between European and Aztec knowledge of botany and medicine. The paper argues that the different organization of these practices – in terms of goals, general understanding of the world, rules and skills required from practitioners – entails that knowledge played a different role in these practices, and that delocalization/globalization can be understood by focusing on the transformation of their organization.
The paper will attempt to answer this question by comparing the woodcuts in the Tesoro with the color images in other botanical and medicinal treatises that originated in Mexico in the same period with the help of indigenous artists and informants, such as the Badiano Codex. The plants in the Badiano Codex were rendered within their surrounding environment and in more stylized fashion than the more detailed and ‘naturalistic’ images in the Tesoro. This suggests that the indigenous medicinal practices were derived from a more symbolical and holistic vision of nature and that the Lincei Europeanized the indigenous knowledge by individualizing the specimens, which made them easier to classify. The ultimate aim of the paper is to further our understanding of the global nature of the ‘Scientific Revolution’.
In particular, the article discusses four cultural practices carried out by the Accademia di San Luca in 1629: 1. Guild-administrative, 2. Religious-confraternal, 3. Artistic-educational, and 4. Patronage practices. These practices are reconstructed and distinguished from each other by focusing on the skills that were required from, the rules that were observed by, and the goals that were pursued by the participants. Moreover, the article shows how these practices could converge with each other, as in the case of the organization of the feast of St. Luke, or come into conflict with each other, as in the election of the new principe. Finally, the various types of power relations that were at work in this institution are discussed, e.g. between different types of artists (painters, embroiderers, sculptors) or between the academicians and their patron (Cardinal Francesco Barberini).
I Lincei plasmavano e coltivavano un network di patronato attraverso la donazione a diversi prelati di libri contenenti immagini delle piante descritte nel Tesoro e con un estratto relativo agli animali messicani. Successivamente essi utilizzavano lo stesso network di patronato per verificare le descrizioni dei manoscritti, per entrare in contatto con gli artisti che avrebbero dovuto creare le illustrazioni e per ottenere i privilegi e l’imprematur, necessari per la pubblicazione del Tesoro a Roma. La ricostruzione di queste pratiche dovrà portare a una conoscenza più completa sia del progetto del Tesoro che dei motivi per il ritardo della pubblicazione.
However, a close scrutiny of the documents in the academy’s archive, and especially of the subsequent Libri dei Provveditori, which contain the minutes of the meetings, reveals a different picture. These documents show that during the first sixteen years of the academy’s existence – from 1563 until 1579 – the Cappella di San Luca was the main location where the academicians held their meetings and carried out their administrative activities, in addition to their religious rituals. For example, the academy elected its officers and new members in this chapel. It also was the site where the academicians drafted the petition to the Grand Duke, in which they asked to be released from the obligations to their respective guilds and to form a guild of their own. This means that during this formative period of the academy the chapel was of greater importance than has hitherto been assumed.
This paper presents a new interpretation of the Cappella di San Luca, in which its double function – confraternal and administrative-professional – is taken into account. It does so, moreover, by focusing on the material objects and artifacts that were used for carrying out the various activities. For example, in the context of the confraternal practices, the candles that were carried around in public processions, such as on the occasion of the funeral of Benvenuto Cellini in 1571, will be discussed. And in relation to the administrative function, paraphernalia such as the bags with black and white beans that were used for casting votes on candidate members and officers are included in the analysis.
The statues and frescoes that adorn the chapel constitute a particularly important ingredient in this interpretation, because these artifacts performed functions in both religious and professional practices. In the past it has been correctly recognized that the main theme of the iconographic program, i.e. the trinity, alludes both to the three natures of the divinity and to the three arts of design. However, until now it has remained unclear how these allusions were connected to the activities that were carried out in the chapel. With the help of analyses of the archival documents and of the iconographical program these activities can be reconstructed. Archival records reveal that during the period when the bulk of the decorations where completed, 1570-1571, the academicians also discussed the formalization of their institution into an autonomous guild for the three arts (i.e. trinity) of Disegno. This paper considers how the artifacts in the Cappella di San Luca reflect both the religious and the professional self-understanding of the artists in the academy.
In this paper I want to apply my practice approach to the images of flora and fauna in the Tesoro messicano and the sixteenth-century mural paintings of the Augustinian monastery in Malinalco (Mexico). In both cases the images are the product of an exchange or negotiation between Amerindian and European “artists” and “scientists”. Whereas the woodcuts in the Tesoro messicano are the result of the transformation of the color drawings of the Amerindian tlacuiloque (painter-scribes), who aided Hernández during his scientific expedition, into images that were understandable to a European audience, the Malinalco murals are the product of native artists who had been trained by European painters. During the Academy I will interpret both cases in spatial terms, namely as contact zones where European and Amerindian knowledge and artistic forms were interchanged in spiritual and healing practices. In this interpretation the Tesoro messicano is seen as an epistemological contact zone, while the paintings in Malinalco are conceived as a physical contact zone. Comparison of these contact zones is fruitful both for understanding the concept of space in art historiography and for furthering the understanding of process of negotiation and transformation of Amerindian knowledge in the production of the Tesoro messicano.
Concretely, the paper compares early modern European and Mesoamerican healing practices as reflected in the Tesoro messicano, a book on the natural history of Mexico, published by the Accademia dei Lincei in 1651 and based on the confrontation between European and Aztec knowledge of botany and medicine. The paper argues that the different organization of these practices – in terms of goals, general understanding of the world, rules and skills required from practitioners – entails that knowledge played a different role in these practices, and that delocalization/globalization can be understood by focusing on the transformation of their organization.
The paper will attempt to answer this question by comparing the woodcuts in the Tesoro with the color images in other botanical and medicinal treatises that originated in Mexico in the same period with the help of indigenous artists and informants, such as the Badiano Codex. The plants in the Badiano Codex were rendered within their surrounding environment and in more stylized fashion than the more detailed and ‘naturalistic’ images in the Tesoro. This suggests that the indigenous medicinal practices were derived from a more symbolical and holistic vision of nature and that the Lincei Europeanized the indigenous knowledge by individualizing the specimens, which made them easier to classify. The ultimate aim of the paper is to further our understanding of the global nature of the ‘Scientific Revolution’.
Another striking feature of this academy is the fact that Cesi and his fellow academicians commissioned large amounts of drawings and prints, often of a high quality, for their scientific projects. These artistic images played a role in processes of knowledge acquisition and divulgation. However, it remains unclear what the exact functions of these drawings were in the scientific practices of the Linceans. How did these drawings – and the artists who produced them – aid the scientists in acquiring knowledge from the natural world?
One promising perspective from which this question can be answered is Federico Zuccari’s theory of Disegno, as this was presented in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Zuccari was the first president of this art academy and in 1594 he laid down the theoretical principles for the lectures and practical training of young artists (published in 1604). More than other art theorists, Zuccari explicitly connects the process of artistic production to that of knowledge acquisition. He does so with the help of the notion of Disegno. According to Zuccari, Disegno is not only the foundation and starting point for the production of artistic images, but it also is that what enables man to gain knowledge of the natural world. Moreover, his proposal for the art academy’s curriculum describes the steps by which young artists can and should improve their Disegno.
This paper attempts to show how Zuccari’s double-layered notion of Disegno and his proposal for the academic curriculum can further our understanding of the functions of the drawings that were commissioned by the Linceans in the context of their scientific practices. It argues that these 'disegni' and the artists who produced them functioned as instruments for the scientists.
However, a close scrutiny of the documents in the academy’s archive, and especially of the subsequent Libri del Provveditore, which contain the minutes of the meetings, provides a different picture. These documents show that during the first sixteen years of the academy’s existence – from 1563 until 1579 – the chapel was the main location where the academicians held their meetings and carried out their administrative activities, such as electing new officers and members. This means that during this formative period of the academy the chapel was of greater importance than has hitherto been assumed.
This paper presents a new interpretation of the artists’ chapel, in which its double function – confraternal and administrative-professional – is taken into account. It does so, moreover, by focusing on decorations in the chapel, which were produced between 1569-1575 by academicians such as Giorgio Vasari, Alessandro Allori, and Vincenzo Danti. The paper analyzes how the statues and frescoes that adorn the chapel performed functions in both religious and professional practices.
Exactly 450 years ago, in June 1565, the Cappella di San Luca in Santissima Annunziata in Florence was conceded to the Accademia del Disegno, the first official art academy, which had been founded two years earlier. The academy was not only a school for young artists, but it also functioned as a religious lay confraternity and, from 1571 onwards, as the guild of painters, sculptors, and architects of Florence. In the scholarly literature on this institution (Summers 1969, Wazbinski 1987, Barzman 2000, Pacini 2001) the Cappella di San Luca has always been identified exclusively as the site where the academy performed its confraternal functions, such as celebrating religious feasts and burying deceased members. Furthermore, it is generally thought that the academy used spaces in other buildings as classroom, library, study, administrative office, and meeting room.
However, a close scrutiny of the documents in the academy’s archive, and especially of the subsequent Libri dei Provveditori, which contain the minutes of the meetings, reveals a different picture. These documents show that during the first sixteen years of the academy’s existence – from 1563 until 1579 – the Cappella di San Luca was the main location where the academicians held their meetings and carried out their administrative activities, in addition to their religious rituals. For example, the academy elected its officers and new members in this chapel. It also was the site where the academicians drafted the petition to the Grand Duke, in which they asked to be released from the obligations to their respective guilds and to form a guild of their own. This means that during this formative period of the academy the chapel was of greater importance than has hitherto been assumed.
This paper presents a new interpretation of the Cappella di San Luca, in which its double function – confraternal and administrative-professional – is taken into account. It does so, moreover, by focusing on the material objects and artifacts that were used for carrying out the various activities. For example, in the context of the confraternal practices, the candles that were carried around in public processions, such as on the occasion of the funeral of Benvenuto Cellini in 1571, will be discussed. And in relation to the administrative function, paraphernalia such as the bags with black and white beans that were used for casting votes on candidate members and officers are included in the analysis.
The statues and frescoes that adorn the chapel constitute a particularly important ingredient in this interpretation, because these artifacts performed functions in both religious and professional practices. In the past it has been correctly recognized that the main theme of the iconographic program, i.e. the trinity, alludes both to the three natures of the divinity and to the three arts of design. However, until now it has remained unclear how these allusions were connected to the activities that were carried out in the chapel. With the help of analyses of the archival documents and of the iconographical program these activities can be reconstructed. Archival records reveal that during the period when the bulk of the decorations where completed, 1570-1571, the academicians also discussed the formalization of their institution into an autonomous guild for the three arts (i.e. trinity) of Disegno. This paper considers how the artifacts in the Cappella di San Luca reflect both the religious and the professional self-understanding of the artists in the academy.
Another striking feature of this academy is the fact that Cesi and his fellow academicians commissioned large amounts of drawings and prints, often of a high quality, for their scientific projects. These artistic images played a role in processes of knowledge acquisition and divulgation. However, it remains unclear what the exact functions of these drawings were in the scientific practices of the Linceans. How did these drawings – and the artists who produced them – aid the scientists in acquiring knowledge from the natural world?
One promising perspective from which this question can be answered is Federico Zuccari’s theory of Disegno, as this was presented in the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. Zuccari was the first president of this art academy and in 1594 he laid down the theoretical principles for the lectures and practical training of young artists (published in 1604). More than other art theorists, Zuccari explicitly connects the process of artistic production to that of knowledge acquisition. He does so with the help of the notion of Disegno. According to Zuccari, Disegno is not only the foundation and starting point for the production of artistic images, but it also is that what enables man to gain knowledge of the natural world. Moreover, his proposal for the art academy’s curriculum describes the steps by which young artists can and should improve their Disegno.
This paper attempts to show how Zuccari’s double-layered notion of Disegno and his proposal for the academic curriculum can further our understanding of the functions of the drawings that were commissioned by the Linceans in the context of their scientific practices. It argues that these 'disegni' and the artists who produced them functioned as instruments for the scientists.
Applications are welcome before 1 October, 2021.
https://www.reforc.com/the-responsible-society-in-early-modern-christianity-voices-fruits/
This exploratory workshop has been designed with a two-fold purpose. On the one hand, it aims to substantially contribute to the conceptualisation and design of a ground-breaking digital humanities project dedicated to the so-called Tesoro Messicano (Mexican Treasury) and its multiple production and circulation contexts between the old and new worlds. On the other hand, it introduces a series of working meetings that are expected to boost a highly innovative research agenda focusing on the complex relationships between cultural heritage and history. Thus, the potential of the concept of paper-heritage-making will be analysed, and thoroughly discussed at the analytical crossroad between a historical issue (heritage as a process), a conceptual resource (digital), and an impact strategy oriented towards the circulation of knowledge and know-how, interdisciplinary training-through research, and social participation. This multilevel approach will continuously return to Rome, meant as both a trans-local urban space, opened to further comparison and entanglement, and a complex global dimension materialised through scholarly, diplomatic and missionary networks as well as multiple contexts of plural confessional cultures.
The workshop argues for the Mexican Treasury as a paper-monument, i.e. a complex artefact made up of strict interconnections of textual, visual and material dimensions, fostering shifting entanglements of knowledge practices, multiple searches for legitimation, political claims, and competing memory production. As is well known, the Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus was published in 1651 as the late result of Francisco Hernández’s complex medical and natural-historical legacy. Though many actors participating in its plural and long-lasting making regarded this “monstrous” in-folio as a scientific failure, it was nevertheless published in Rome. While the Papal city was losing its political centrality in Europe and renegotiating its universal aurea, the Mexican Treasury was resumed, and a complex bulk of knowledge on the natural American world was made public after lengthy exposure to different appropriations, re-significations and sedimentations, thus reinventing spatial and temporal junctures with the earlier past.
In the last years, the apparently increasing scholarly attention towards such a “born-old” natural history of the new worlds invites us to reflect on its multiple material dimensions, plural contexts, and different uses. By opening up a collective reflection on this paper-monument, the time is now ripe to thematise the Papal city as a complex urban space of paper sedimentation, artefact entrapments, as well as a trans-local communicative arena where knowledge-making and competing processes of value-creation, resignification, oblivion and destruction, continuously renegotiate the future.
— « Le Principe de plaisir : esthétique, savoirs et politique dans la Florence des Médicis (XVIe-XVIIe siècle) », Déborah Blocker, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2022.
— « The Academization of Art: A Practice Approach to the Early Histories of the Accademia del Disegno and the Accademia di San Luca », Matthijs Jonker, Rome, Papers of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome, Quasar, 2022.