[DEADLINE EXTENDED: JUNE 6, 2015] Whose (French) Renaissance? RSA Boston, March 31 - April 2, 2016

full name / name of organization: 
Renaissance Society of America
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Complicating the notion of the 'French Renaissance,' this panel seeks papers that explore the dynamic relationship between Italian artists and their French patrons, audiences, and counterparts in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century courts of Charles VIII, Francis I, Henry II and Henry IV. We are interested in investigations into the ways in which these artists realized their royal commissions by participating in, subverting, and creating artistic dialogues. Rather than simply importing visual language, humanist discourses, and artistic debates into French contexts, Italian artists and their French patrons mediated different processes of material, contextual, and formal translations. Indeed, the works they produced are no more Italian than they are French. Instead, the complex nature of artistic production in France provides an important opportunity to investigate notions of hybridity, cultural transmission, and nationalism. Moreover, we hope to interrogate what is at stake in making these assessments.

Potential topics include but are not limited to:
- the movement of artists in and out of the French court
- notions of hybridity, cultural transmission, nationalism, and foreignness in relation to artistic production
- textual sources in translation
- the French court as international artists' academy
- collaborative invention and workshops
- art agents and the circumstances of patronage

Papers that take a broad theoretical approach to the topic as well as those that consider specific case studies are welcome. Please send an abstract (150 word maximum) and a short CV (300 word maximum) to both ivana7vranic@gmail.com and landersen88@gmail.com by no later than June 6, 2015.