Conferences & Lectures - Kress

Date:
Time:
Location: Cortona, Italy. Centro Convegni S. Agostino, Sala d'Assedio
Leonardo da Vinci, A Map of the Valdichiana, c. 1503-06, Royal Collection Trust RCIN 912278

Francesca Fiorani, University of Virginia

Leonardo da Vinci and Cortona: Wetlands, Mapping, and the Art of Painting in Renaissance Italy

In the early sixteenth century Leonardo da Vinci made a spectacular map of the Tuscan countryside that features Cortona prominently—just a bit off center, towards the right. Far from casual, Cortona’s position offers insights on the ecclesiastical and political context of Leonardo’s map.

The lecture starts with an examination of the map’s visual language in the context of Renaissance geography. Then it reconsiders the map’s scope, which is traditionally related to Cesare Borgia’s military campaigns or a never-realized project to drain the valley’s malarian marshes. But taking into account Cortona’s prominent position within the map, the lecture addresses also the role Cortona’s bishopric played in the power struggle between Rome and Florence. The lecture concludes with a new evaluation of wetlands—including those around Cortona— within Leonardo’s art theory. Even though military campaigns, draining projects, or even power struggles between may have been at the origin of Leonardo’s map, it was the wetland landscape itself that stayed with artist for years to come and that came to play a foundational role in his art and thought.

Francesca Fiorani is a professor of art history at the University of Virginia. An expert on Renaissance art and the application of computer technology to the humanities, she designed the digital platform Leonardo da Vinci and His Treatise on Painting. She is the author of The Marvel of Maps: Art, Cartography, and Politics in Renaissance Italy (Yale UP, 2005) and The Shadow Drawing: How Science Taught Leonardo How to Paint (New York, 2020; paperback May 2022).


For more information about the lecture location, click here. Please note that FFP2 masks are required for all attendees.

The 2022 IAS/Kress Lecture will also be streamable on Zoom for those members who are unable to attend in-person in Cortona! The lecture begins at 4pm (IT), and the Zoom link will open at 3:30pm (IT). To access the lecture, click here, or go to Zoom directly and enter the meeting information: Meeting ID 814 6550 6771, Passcode 788039

To apply for an ESC travel grant to attend this lecture, click here.

For a list of site visits/percorsi suggested by Jennifer Griffiths, click here.


Lastly, a special thank you to Katherine T. Brown, our Chair of Membership, for all of her work in organizing this event and making it possible!


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