VII ART, POWER, AND GENDER CONFERENCE
IMAGERY AND FEMALE DEVOTION IN RENAISSANCE EUROPE
University of Murcia, 25th and 26th of April 2024
Event type: In-person & online (Zoom)
The VII Art, Power, and Gender Conference is part of the program organized in the context of two research projects: “Portrait Medals and Female Power in Renaissance Europe (I): The Women in the Spanish Monarchy,” and “Power, Gender, and Representation: Female Portrait Medals in the Courts of Renaissance Europe (France, England, and Scotland).” The goal of this edition is to evaluate the devotional mechanisms used by Renaissance women to construct their image of power.
There were numerous female rules who took the center stage in the sixteenth century for the first time. This defied the social and cultural limits accepted for their gender. In a context in which certain medieval theories against female rulership were still in force, many women became powerful ruling queens, regents, and governors. They employed political, discursive, and visual tools to renegotiate these codes, to legitimate their position, and to consolidate their power. In this sense, the representation of female rulers played a key role. It contributed decisively to creating and disseminating a legitimate image of power strengthening their authority beyond the boundaries of what was accepted for their gender.
Unlike their male counterparts, these female rulers did not have an iconographic tradition to pull from. They were also considered incapable of ruling by those who argued that they were physically and mentally fragile. This propitiated the development of representation strategies that showed them as leaders capable of taking on incredibly important political responsibilities successfully.
This conference aims to analyze the different devotional solutions adopted by these Renaissance female rulers to promote their public image, to legitimize their political position, and to strengthen their authority. To this end, there are contributions that present different case studies that will delve into the patronage of devotional architecture, the purchase and personalization of religious artifacts or the election of certain models by female donors to be represented in these artworks. This will help to understand the complex visual discourse that legitimized and strengthened the exercise of these women’s political responsibilities.
We welcome papers based on original research that can contribute to advances in this field by exploring new topics following appropriate theoretical frameworks. They must aim contributed to better understand the relationship established between devotion and the exercise of female power in the Renaissance. A selection of papers will be considered for publication.
You can send you proposal including a title, a concise description of the proposed topic (between 400-600 words), and a short CV to artepoderygenero@um.es
Proposed topics:
- Queens and Piety. The Devotional Imagery of the Female Rulers in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
- Female Patronage. Pious Works for the Salvation of the Soul
- Noblewomen, Aristocrats, and Nuns. Other Uses of Devotional Imagery
- Other related topics
Deadline for paper proposals: 16 April 2024
- Notice of acceptance: 7 workdays following proposal submission.
- Languages: proposal are accepted in Spanish, English, French, Italian, and Portuguese.
- Presentation format: Zoom
