Held in conjunction with the exhibition Sculpture in the Age of Donatello: Renaissance Masterpieces from Florence Cathedral. 

During this one day symposium, nine speakers will engage issues around Renaissance sculpture. These talks will both enrich the understanding of the objects on display and of the artists who created them, and also broaden the show’s horizons to encompass other chapters of the history of fifteenth-century Italian sculpture. Click here to register.

Opening Remarks 9:30 am
Morning Session: Thresholds 10:00 am

Robert Glass, University of Notre Dame
From Medieval Drollery to Classical Exemplum: Marginal Decoration on Church Portals in Florence and Rome around 1400 

Andrew Butterfield, Andrew Butterfield Fine Arts, LLC
Sculptors’ Models in Renaissance Florence 

Marietta Cambareri, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Luca della Robbia’s Istorie: the Duomo Lunettes and the Pistoia Visitation 

Lunch Break 11:45 am-1:15 pm

Afternoon Session I: Bodies and Space 1:15 pm

Peter Jonathan Bell, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Donatello and the Free-standing Statue 

David J. Drogin, State University of New York, Fashion Institute of Technology
The Body, Space, and Narrative in Early Fifteenth-Century Tuscan Sculpture 

Adrian W.B. Randolph, Dartmouth College
Sculpture and Violence: Abraham and Isaac by Donatello and Il Rosso 

Break 3:00-3:15 pm

Afternoon Session II: Beyond Florence Cathedral 3:15 pm

Lauren Jacobi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Fluidity and Fecundity: Metal, Money, and the Florentine Zecca 

Amy Bloch, University at Albany, State University of New York
Jacopo della Quercia: From the Baptistery Competition to the Fonte Gaia

Christina Neilson, Oberlin College
Between Touching and Seeing: Verrocchio’s Christ and St. Thomas as Material Aporia

Closing Remarks 5:00 pm