PIMSPontifical Institute
of
Mediaeval Studies

Speakers
Marco Faini Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, University Ca'Foscari of Venice / Department of History, University of Toronto
Standing at the Crossroads: Allegories of Doubt in Renaissance Italy (1500-1560)
At the end of the fifteenth century and in the first decades of the sixteenth century, extraordinary events drastically altered the course of Italian and European history. What people had been holding true for centuries suddenly became outdated, unreliable, unsatisfying. The printing press contributed to spread the news at a previously unknown pace. As a consequence, in many literary, philosophical, religious, and visual sources doubt began to occupy an increasing space. Doubt was a condition that affected the intellect, the soul, and the body. Also, doubt was a very carefully defined concept which possessed an equally recognizable bodily rhetoric. By discussing visual and literary allegories of doubt produced in Italy in the sixteenth century and by setting them in their historical context, I will explore how doubt was perceived and defined, and what its impact was on everyday life of Renaissance Italians across the whole social spectrum.

Sarah Reeser Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto
Turning the Page to a 'New World': Reconsidering an Early Printed Map of the Caribbean
Peter Martyr d’Anghiera’s 1511 Opera contains one of the earliest printed maps of the “New World.” This map, which depicts Caribbean islands and continental coastlines, possesses a deceptively simple appearance that belies a complex program of physical and mental engagement. Scholarship on the 1511 woodcut has often focused on interpreting the relationship of map to territory while overlooking the relationship between map and viewer. This talk will analyze how the Martyr map works in tandem with a brief descriptive text found on its verso to guide the viewer through a series of interactions with the cartographic image and the materiality of the Opera itself. It will argue that what has been classified as “a rather poor woodcut” in fact contains a wealth of information about contemporary practices of map interpretation.

You are warmly invited to join us for a CRRS Year-End Reception, immediately following the Early Modern Interdisciplinary Graduate Forum!

The Early Modern Interdisciplinary Graduate Forum (EMIGF) is a monthly event that provides a platform for PhD candidates, post-docs, fellows, and recent graduates to present work in progress in an informal setting. Each event features two speakers, whose talks are followed by moderated commentary and discussion.

EMIGF is hosted by the Centre for Reformation and Renaissance Studies (CRRS) at the University of Toronto, and its mandate is to facilitate dialogue on current topics in early modern research across the disciplines.

Please consider joining us on April 4th!