Picturing Poetic Imagery

The event brings together art historians and literary scholars for a preliminary exploration of the visual cultures that were associated with the poetic tropes of metaphor and simile in early modern Italy. By focusing on the extensive and multifaceted presence of these figures of speech in two foundational pillars of Italian literature, Dante’s Divina Commedia and Petrarch’s Canzoniere, and on the impact that these writings had on the arts of the following centuries, the workshop aims to shed light on a variety of interrelated issues. Among other questions, it will for instance consider the pictorial potential inherent in the high degree of visuality that is typical of metaphoric expressions, the use of similes grounded in artistic practices, the reification of figurative language in artworks or everyday objects, and the creative ways in which Renaissance artists responded to the suggestions coming from those tropes.

PARTICIPATION: The event will take place via Zoom. You can join the Zoom meeting | Meeting-ID: 856 5934 5839 | Password: 148258.