Call for Papers: Rosa in Britain (witches and magic!)
Conference: Salvator Rosa in Britain
Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 18 October 2010
Proposals Due by 30 December 2009
Salvator Rosa, "Soldiers Gambling," ca. 1658 (Dulwich Picture Gallery)
The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art will be hosting a conference, Salvator Rosa in Britain, on October 18th, 2010, at Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, to accompany the exhibition Salvator Rosa (1615-1673): Bandits, Wilderness and Magic, to be held there from 15 September – 28 November 2010. Rosa has always had a double importance for art in Britain, as both painter and phenomenon, and the conference aims to explore his vast impact on both painters and writers. Possible themes might include
- collectors and collecting
- Rosa and concepts of the sublime, both in landscape and in magic, prophecy and enchantment
- the afterlife of some outstanding works once or still in Britain, such as the Democritus, Belisarius, Atilius Regulus, or Empedocles Leaping into Etna
- Rosa and the concepts of Romantic genius and the freedom of the artist
- the myths woven around Rosa’s biography
- bandits and witches.
Please send a 250 to 500-word outline of your proposal for a twenty-five minute presentation, along with a CV and a list of publications to Helenlangdon@hotmail.com.
Books and Manuscripts Sale at Sotheby’s
As noted on NPR’s Morning Edition (Wednesday, 28 October 2009), autograph letters of Lord Byron to his friend Francis Hodgson are up for auction tomorrow at Sotheby’s in London. They probably don’t shed lots of light art historically, though — as noted on the Sotheby’s site — they are relevant for the later history of the Grand Tour. In fact, the sale generally is useful for materials related to travel and exploration. From NPR’s website:
Sotheby's London, 29 October 2009, Lot 19. Estimate: 150,000-180,000 GBP
The British poet Lord Byron is well-known for his flamboyance. He had love affairs with women, men and the occasional relative, and one mistress called him “mad, bad and dangerous to know” — all of which makes his friendship with Francis Hodgson a surprise. Byron and Hodgson, a clergyman whom the poet met at Cambridge, maintained a spirited, lifelong correspondence through letters. Now, a collection of their letters dating from 1808 to 1821 is up for auction at Sotheby’s. Gabriel Heaton, who works in the books and manuscripts department at Sotheby’s, describes the letters as “just beautiful.” “The way that you can get a sense of Byron’s thought process from his letters is just spine-tingling,” he tells Renee Montagne. “There’s always something interesting going on in Byron’s life, and he always expresses it so wonderfully.” The letters include Byron’s witty, sometimes crude, commentaries on various European cities, including Lisbon, Portugal, where, he writes, the only vices of the people are “lice and sodomy.” The letters also reveal a more fragile side of the poet, including the sadness he felt at the collapse of a romantic relationship with a maid named Susan Vaughn. . . .
For the full story, click here»
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