國立陽明交通大學視覺文化研究所
Speaker: Prof. Candida Syndikus
(Professor and Director of Graduate Institute of Art History, NTNU)
Moderator: Dr. Louis Lo
(Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Institute for Studies in Visual Cultures, NYCU)
Time: 21 May 2021(Fri.) 13:20-15:10
Venue: Zhi Xing Building Room 322, Yang Ming Campus, NYCU
※ The talk is conducted in English
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◆ABSTRACT
Despite of being a physical organ, the human heart is a major symbol connoting emotions, cognition and ethical consciousness. In early modern Europe, the heart was an important object of research for physicians, theologians and artists, who often joint efforts in exploring the human body.
The talk focusses on a selection of narrative scenes from the legend of Saint Anthony of Padua († 1231), which involve the heart as central motif of a theological discourse on Christian morality. Such representations were especially popular in Padua (Northern Italy) during the 15th and 16th centuries, when the city was under the rule of the Republic of Venice. It will be examined how the artworks resonate the heterogeneous intellectual milieu of the place.
Since the Middle Ages, the local university was a leading center of Renaissance humanism and medical studies in Europe. Conversely, the presence of Saint Anthony’s relics and the widespread belief in their healing power entailed an intense flow of pilgrimages. In representing Saint Anthony side by side with doctors in close collaboration, the miracles blend traditional hagiography with perceptions from the medical field.
◆ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Candida Syndikus is professor in Western Art History and director at the Graduate Institute of Art History, NTNU. She studied Art History, Medieval History and Classical Archeology at the University of Würzburg (Germany). She received her PhD with a thesis on the Italian humanist and architect Leon Battista Alberti (1404–72). She gained her venia legendi in Art History at the University of Münster (Germany) with a research paper on Renaissance wall painting of lay confraternities in the Veneto.
Her research fields include Renaissance painting in Venice and its areas of influence, Italian Renaissance architecture and architectural theory, German medieval architecture, and Painting of German Historicism.Her recent publications are on Venetian Renaissance painting; Caterina Cornaro (1454–1510), Queen of Cyprus; and on representations of saints and healers in Renaissance Italy.
