Crayfish, Lizards, Clams and other Knickknacks
When and Where
Speakers
Description
The Department of Art History is pleased to present the next installment of our French Visiting Scholar Lecture Series, featuring Prof. Patricia Falguières (EHESS, Paris)
"Crayfish, Lizards, Clams and other Knickknacks: What are we talking about when we talk about Nature in 16th-century Europe?"
When: Wednesday, October 23, 2024 - 5-7pm
Where: Paul Cadario Conference Centre, University College
The live casting of small animals, a well-established practice in 16th-century workshops in Italy and Germany, has become increasingly popular among art historians and historians of science over the last fifteen years, to the point of becoming the symbol of the Material Turn in Early Modern historiography.
But can we really include such a practice in the prestigious history of the observation of nature and the revolution in knowledge that it supports? From what kind of knowledge does it proceed ? What kind of knowledge does it authorize? Are we really sure that this is about imitating Nature? And are we sure it's all about Nature ? In short, can the Material Turn really bypass the ontological challenges of Technè?