Sure, she can play the virginal, but can she paint?  That was a question of Giorgio Vasari, whose seminal art history marveled at the first Italian women to become professional artists.  Dr. James Magruder will look at how the first cohort of Italian female artists depicted themselves and some of the women around them, first as gentlewomen and increasingly as intellectuals.  Where Vasari positioned them as marvels of Nature, they depicted Nature to prove their full humanity, as well as full equality with their fathers, teachers, and husbands.  Please join us: 12/9/20 at 12:15 on Webex! Join Webex meeting  ID: 1206631943  Password: GCwvwdr3(US) +1 202-860-2110 (toll) Access code: 120 663 194 3 1206631943@umbc.webex.com

The MEMS bi-weekly e-newsletter shares information about events, conferences, calls for papers, student and faculty work in the field, and digital resources that enrich our understanding of Medieval and Early Modern Studies.  If you have any items you would like to share in the newsletter, please send them to Laurel Bassett at lburgg1@umbc.edu.

ON CAMPUS EVENTS

Thank you to curator Ashley Dimmig for her terrific presentation on Exploring Islamic Manuscripts at the Walters Art Gallery. You can see a video of her talk and the Q and A on the main page of our website: http://mems.umbc.edu.

Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns: December 9: 12:15-12:45 PM

Instrumental to Intellectual: Italian Female Artists, 1600s

Sure, she can play the virginal, but can she paint?  That was a question of Giorgio Vasari, whose seminal art history marveled at the first Italian women to become professional artists.  Dr. James Magruder will look at how the first cohort of Italian female artists depicted themselves and some of the women around them, first as gentlewomen and increasingly as intellectuals.  Where Vasari positioned them as marvels of Nature, they depicted Nature to prove their full humanity, as well as full equality with their fathers, teachers, and husbands.  Please join us: 12/9/20 at 12:15 on Webex! Join Webex meeting  ID: 1206631943  Password: GCwvwdr3(US) +1 202-860-2110 (toll) Access code: 120 663 194 3 1206631943@umbc.webex.com

 MEMS WINTER AND SPRING ‘21 COURSE OFFERINGS

Check out upcoming course offerings at our website: https://mems.umbc.edu or our MEMS group post:  https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/mems/posts/97158  (If you would prefer to see a PDF document of the course offerings, email Laurel at lburgg1@umbc.edu.)

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Thursday December 3, 1:00-2:00 PM, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies presents: Runaway Ecologies with ACMRS Resident Gabriel de Avilez Rocha

 Runaway Ecologies: Rethinking Empire, Insurgency and Nature in the Early Atlantic.  This talk focuses on experiences of fugitive collectives in the sixteenth-century Caribbean and West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea.  A guiding question is: how does weighing the impact of initiatives of escape from enslavement on both sides of the Atlantic at an early critical juncture of colonization alter our understanding of the relationship between empire, insurgency and nature?  The event is free and digital.  Registration is required to attend.  To register, visit: https://asuevents.asu.edu/content/runaway-ecologies-acmrs-shortterm-resident-gabriel-de-avilez-rocha?eventDate=2020-12-03.

Thursday December 10, 3:00-4:15 PM Folger’s Critical Race Conversations: Shakespeare and Race in Performance

 This youtube virtual event features theatrical practitioners Tyler Fauntleroy, Rosa Joshi, and Farah Karim-Cooper.  From their lived experiences, they ask what we have to learn and unlearn about the effects of elitism and gatekeeping in stagecraft.  How can the rehearsal space address unconscious biases that give rise to and may perpetuate color-blindness?  Where might we go from here with our engagements with Shakespeare and race in performance?  See https://www.folger.edu/events/critical-race-conversations-shakespeare-and-race-in-performance for more information.

Monday December 15, 5:30-6:00 PM Walter Art Museum presents LIVE Lecture: Handwritten Art: Calligraphy in Asian and Islamic Cultures

 Would you like to learn more about the calligraphy you saw in Ashley Dimmig’s recent presentation on Islamic manuscripts?  Check out this Facebook Live presentation with Ashley and her colleagues Adriana Proser and Danny Chan as they discus a selection of calligraphy in the Walters collections.  Follow the link below for access to the talk:

https://thewalters.org/event/calligraphy/

Thursday, December 17, 12 PM CDT Center for Renaissance Studies Programs: Dante Lecture

The Triumph of Love: The Passion in the Divine Comedy

 This virtual talk led by Paola Nasti, Northwestern University, will examine the shift in late medieval devotion and spirituality to a study of the sufferings of Christ.  Examination of writings and visual representation of Franciscan friars will be set against Dante’s representation of the Passion’s episodes in the Comedy. 

This virtual event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.  To register, follow the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfEzAuICyIx0eVyYumfjgdheUI1lwttI8tRGZBudrkS94qJAw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Wednesday, January 13, 5-5:45 PM Making History Through Handwriting: An Introduction to Manuscript Transcription

 The Omohundro Institute hosts Julie Fisher and Sara Powell’s discussion of transcription and transcription projects taking place across the United States and how to join them.  Julie Fisher specializes in Early American and Native American history, with a focus on digital humanities projects.  Sara Powell is the assistant curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at Houghton Library at Harvard University, where she specializes in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. 

For information on how to register, see:

https://oievents.wm.edu/event/making-history-through-handwriting

PAPERS AND CONFERENCES

 Call for Papers: Power, Patronage and Production: Book Arts from Central Europe (ca. 800-1500) in American Collections

 The Index of Medieval Art (Princeton University), the Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum (New York), and the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University will host a conference to accompany the exhibition, “Imperial Splendor: The Art of the Book in the Holy Roman Empire, 800-1500,” presented at the Morgan Library from October 15, 2021 to January 23, 2022 . The conference runs January 13-15, 2022. For more information, including topics and categories for proposals, see http://www.themedievalacademyblog.org/call-for-papers-power-patronage-and-production-book-arts-from-central-europe-ca-800-1500-in-american-collections/

DIGITAL RESOURCES

If you weren’t able to check out the Walters curator talk this week on Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe (or even if you were), the exhibition catalogue referenced in the talk is available:

https://thewalters.org/wp-content/uploads/revealing-the-african-presence-in-renaissance-europe.pdf

For ongoing digital updates from the Medieval (academic) world, check out #medievaltwitter, #shakeRace, and #raceB4Race.

Interested in an old holiday recipe?  Check out “Strawberries in Snow” from medievalcookery.com. 

8 egg whites

1 pint whipping cream

½ cup sugar

1-2 Tbsp rose water

2 pints strawberries

1 cup red wine

¼ cup sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

Whip cream and set aside. Beat egg whites until they form soft peaks.  Add egg whites to whipped cream and whisk together.  Add rose water and sugar, adding a little sugar at a time.  This stuff will have a consistency something like Cool-Whip but will taste lots better. 

Clean strawberries and place into bowl.  Mix red wine, sugar, cinnamon, and ginger.  Pour mixture over strawberries and allow to marinate for an hour or so.  Serve “snow” with strawberries on top and with a couple shortbread cookies on the side.

Sources: A Proper Neue Book of Cokery, T. Gloning. (16^th cent), The Good Housewife’s Jewell (16^th cent).

For more information, please join the Medieval and Early Modern Studies Group: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/mems and see our website: www.mems.umbc.edu

See you in the New Year!

The MEMS bi-weekly e-newsletter shares information about events, conferences, calls for papers, student and faculty work in the field, and digital resources that enrich our understanding of Medieval and Early Modern Studies.  If you have any items you would like to share in the newsletter, please send them to Laurel Bassett at lburgg1@umbc.edu.

ON CAMPUS EVENTS

JOIN US TOMORROW: MEMS FALL EVENT!

November 18 4 PM Exploring Islamic Manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum on Webex

Join curator Ashley Dimmig from the Walters Art Gallery for a virtual presentation of Islamic Manuscripts, with Q and A to follow.

Join Webex meeting

ID: 1207944105
Password: JPtDGbfK

(US) +1 202-860-2110 (toll)

Access code: 120 794 410 5

1207944105@umbc.webex.com

Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learns:

Thank you to Dr. Johnson for leading our inaugural and mellifluous Mini-MEMS Lunch and Learn on Musical Instruments of the Renaissance!  You can see a video of her talk and the Q and A on the main page of our website: http://mems.umbc.edu.

MEMS WINTER AND SPRING ‘21 COURSE OFFERINGS

Check out upcoming course offerings at our website: https://mems.umbc.edu or our MEMS group post:  https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/mems/posts/97158  (If you would prefer to see a PDF document of the course offerings, email Laurel at lburgg1@umbc.edu.)

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Friday and Saturday November 27-28 “Shakespeare and Race: Teaching and Performance,” Folger Institute’s Critical Race Conversations

Join this online event at Shakespeare’s Globe, the result of an ongoing collaboration between Globe Education and the University of Sussex.  The event consists of three sessions: a lecture, “Racecraft” by Noémie Ndiaye (University of Chicago); a Roundtable on teaching race and early modern drama in the university classroom with Lynette Goddard (Royal Holloway University of London), Nandini Das (University of Oxford), Joyce Macdonald (University of Kentucky) and Farah Karim-Cooper (Shakespeare’s Globe and King’s College London); and Research in Action: Othello in context and in a new light, co-ordinated by Will Tosh (Shakespeare’s Globe), which will use specially staged and filmed extracts. This workshop asks us to consider Othello in the light of Soliman and Perseda (probably by Thomas Kyd) and Lust’s Dominion (Thomas Dekker and others). Discussion will then be led by Dennis Britton (University of New Hampshire), Delia Jarrett-Macauley (writer and academic) and Matthew Dimmock (University of Sussex). 

 Register for free at https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/shakespeare-and-race-teaching-and-performance-2020/. Follow #ShakeRace during the Zoom sessions.

 Tuesday December 1, 5:30-6:00 PM Walter Art Museum presents LIVE Curator Talk: A Child of African Ancestry at the Medici Court

This Facebook Live presentation is part of the exhibition: Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe (2012-2013).   Around 1539, Giulia de Medici, who was the daughter of the duke of Florence and the granddaughter of an enslaved African, was painted next to her cousin, the widowed Maria Salviati with whom she lived.  Join Joaneath Spicer, curator of Renaissance and Baroque Art, for her talk addressing why Giulia was initially painted out of the portrait and her rediscovery in the 20^th century.  Follow the link below for access to the talk. 

 https://thewalters.org/event/medici/

 Thursday, December 17, 12 PM CDT Center for Renaissance Studies Programs: Dante Lecture

The Triumph of Love: The Passion in the Divine Comedy

This virtual talk led by Paola Nasti, Northwestern University, will examine the shift in late medieval devotion and spirituality to a study of the sufferings of Christ.  Examination of writings and visual representation of Franciscan friars will be set against Dante’s representation of the Passion’s episodes in the Comedy. 

This virtual event is free and open to the public, but advance registration is required.  To register, follow the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfEzAuICyIx0eVyYumfjgdheUI1lwttI8tRGZBudrkS94qJAw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Wednesday, January 13, 5-5:45 PM Making History Through Handwriting: An Introduction to Manuscript Transcription

The Omohundro Institute hosts Julie Fisher and Sara Powell’s discussion of transcription and transcription projects taking place across the United States and how to join them.  Julie Fisher specializes in Early American and Native American history, with a focus on digital humanities projects.  Sara Powell is the assistant curator of Early Books and Manuscripts at Houghton Library at Harvard University, where she specializes in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. 

For information on how to register, see:

https://oievents.wm.edu/event/making-history-through-handwriting

PAPERS AND CONFERENCES

The Huntington Library has posted their Ecologies of Paper in the Early Modern World Virtual Conference, originally broadcast November 5, 2020.

The conference explores the transmutation, preservation, and loss of paper as a cycle of archiving and forgetting that defined early modern artistic practice, economic transaction, and political statecraft.  Speakers map paper’s various guises, its ability to retain meanings associated with its material origins as well as its desire to conceal its former states or to encourage belief in a value beyond its material reality.  Charting the journeys of early modern paper in drawing, print, and document, this program not only restructures our understanding of paper’s importance in early modern artistic practice and political life but also reconstructs the governing roles of environment, place, and origin in modes of making and address.   

https://www.huntington.org/videos-recorded-programs/ecologies-paper

DIGITAL RESOURCES

Check out the new North of Byzantium website project: Mapping Eastern Europe. 

This new digital and interactive platform is intended to promote study, research, and teaching about the history, art, and culture of Eastern Europe between the 13^th and 17^th centuries among students, teachers, scholars, and the wider public. 

 https://www.northofbyzantium.org

Huntington Lecture: From Parchment to Pixel: Conservation and Digitization of Illuminated Manuscripts

Recorded August 19, 2020.  Three panelists follow one of The Huntington’s most studied manuscripts as it travels from curator to conservator to digitization team, who all work together to transform a 16^th-century manuscript into a 21^st-century digital tool.  The lavishly illuminated manuscript was created by William Bowyer, Keeper of the Records in the Tower of London in 1567 for Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and has been among the most studied volumes since Henry Huntington acquired it in 1912. 

 https://www.huntington.org/videos-recorded-programs/parchment-to-pixel

For more information, please join the Medieval and Early Museum Studies Group: https://my3.my.umbc.edu/groups/mems and see our website: www.mems.umbc.edu