Few topics have attracted more attention in recent literature on the intersections of early modern art, science, and intellectual history than the “epistemic image.” This is a type of visual culture [...] Read More
16th Century
Dürer’s Coats: Renaissance Men and Material Cultures of Social Recognition
In a letter written from Venice on September 8, 1506, two of Albrecht Dürer’s garments said hello to the humanist Willibald Pirckheimer: “My French mantle greets you and my Italian coat also.” [...] Read More
The Burgeoning European Print Trade. The Distribution of Prints via the Plantin-Moretus Press of Antwerp.
After long domination of early Netherlandish art by the study of paintings, recent decades have inspired interest in another major innovation of the era, the medium of prints. Around midcentury in [...] Read More
Melchior Lorck. Catalogue Raisonné. Volume Five, Part Two.
In music history the curse of completing a ninth symphony as a harbinger of a death plagued composers after Beethoven, including Schubert, Bruckner, Dvorak, and Mahler. Working on the earliest Danish [...] Read More
Dürer to Van Dyck: Drawings from Chatsworth House
After a period of relative quiet, the last few years have seen a flurry of exhibitions of Northern European drawings across Britain, with more expected in 2026. These exhibitions have showcased the [...] Read More
Little Beasts. Art, Wonder, and the Natural World
Insects have been enjoying increased visibility in early modern art history studies. After the late Janice Neri’s book, The Insect and the Image: Visualizing Nature in Early Modern Europe, 1500-1700 [...] Read More