Lia Markey: The Nova Reperta and the Renaissance Representation of Invention and Globalization
Johannes Stradanus’s Nova Reperta (c. 1588), a renowned print series of twenty engravings, represents 19 post-classical novelties as varied as eyeglasses, the cure for syphilis, and the New World. Through an analysis of the prints, their Latin captions, and their preparatory drawings, Markey (Director of the Center for Renaissance Studies, Newberry Library) examines how the series depicts invention as both global and specifically Florentine to investigate the relationship between innovation and cross-cultural exchange in the late sixteenth century. This lecture also acts as a preview to an upcoming exhibition devoted to the Nova Reperta at the Newberry Library in spring 2020.
Audience Q&A and reception to follow.
Free
Presented by the Department of Art History as part of the 2019/20 Smart Lecture series supported by the Smart Family Foundation.