Thesis: Representation of the Months in Sixteenth-Century Italy

Supervisor: Dr Louise Bourdua

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I am a PhD student in History of Art at the University of Warwick, and my research is funded by the Center for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence. I gained my Master’s degree in History of Art from the University of Florence. My Master thesis, for which I was awarded a two-year Italian Government Studentship, explored a series of four Tapestries of the Months by the fifteenth-century Florentine artist Francesco d’Ubertino Verdi (Bachiacca). I received my BA in History from the University of Bucharest. My final thesis was an interdisciplinary study of the works by the Flemish painter Bruegel the Elder.

Research Summary:

The topic of my doctoral project is an interdisciplinary study of the representation of the months in sixteenth-century Italy.

The division of the year into twelve months, each describing an occupation practiced under the celestial influence, was a topic that belonged primarily to the medieval world. Unsurprisingly, numerous and exhaustive works have been devoted to the study of calendars during the period. Although the subject of the twelve months continued to be illustrated throughout the sixteenth century, scarce attention has been drawn to it until now. This is all the more evident as far as the Italian area is concerned, where the state of scholarship is fragmentary and limited to a few case studies. My doctoral project is an attempt to fill this major gap in the scholarship. In doing so, it will be possible to understand the manner in which calendars where adapted, illustrated and perceived during sixteenth-century Italy. A thorough description of these works will be also instrumental to a deeper comprehension of the major cultural and political changes occurring in the period.

Research interests:

• Iconography

• Cultural History

• Italian Studies

• Renaissance and Early Modern Art

• Renaissance Astrology

• History of Book

• History of Agriculture

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Publications:

'Astrology and Agriculture in the Calendar of the Offiziolo of Charles VIII (Fondazione Giorgio Cini, inv. 2502/4)’, Rivista di Storia della Miniatura, 22 (2018), pp. 136-148. http://www.centrodi.it/miniatura/articolo.asp?IDV=126965

‘L'incontro nel deserto tra Gesù e san Giovannino: fonti iconografiche’, Arte cristiana, 103: 887 (2015), pp. 113-122.

Conference papers:

'From Carnival to Pious City: Scenes of Urban Life in the Bassano Series of the Twelve Months', Renaissance Society Association 65th Conference, Toronto, 17-19 March 2019 - panel series Seasonal Rhythms and Rituals in the Cultural Life of Renaissance Cities.

‘The Calendar of a Printed Book of Hours and its Impact on Sixteenth-Century Manuscript Illumination’, Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference, The Newberry Library, Chicago, 25 – 27 January 2018.

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Conference organisation:

I was one of the organisational team members of the second Millburn House Symposium, an interdisciplinary PG conference that took place on 25 May 2016, as part of the Faculty of Arts Postgraduate Research Festival, The University of Warwick.

Fellowships, Grants & Awards:

Early Career Fellowship at the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, awarded for a project on the imagery of early printed agricultural treatises and the recreation of a Renaissance vegetable garden for educational purposes.

Charles Montgomery Gray Short-Term Fellowship at the Newberry Library in Chicago, with a project entitled 'Illustrated Insights in Early Printed Agricultural Texts' (15 October – 15 November 2019).

Humanities Research Fund for presenting a paper at the Renaissance Society of America (March 2019).

Newberry Renaissance Consortium Grant for presenting a paper at the Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference, The Newberry Library (January 2018).

Erasmus + scholarship at the University of Padua (September – December 2016).

3.5 years Centre for Arts Doctoral Research Excellence scholarship at the University of Warwick (October 2015 – March 2019).

Scholarship provided by the DSU (Regional "Right to Study" Programme) for the academic year 2012 – 2013.

Governmental Scholarship offered the Italian Ministries of Foreign Affairs (October 2010 – September 2012).

Academic experience:

Academic Internship at the Uffizi Gallery, Department of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century art, Florence (2011).