Thesis: Representation of the Months in Sixteenth-Century Italy

Supervisor: Dr Louise Bourdua

Background:

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.

Due to the multiple aspects permeating the iconography of the months, my project brings to light important aspects pertinent to other disciplinary areas, such as Cultural History, Astrology, Mythology and Agricultural studies.

Research interests:

• Iconography

• Cultural History

• Italian Studies

• Renaissance and Early Modern Art

• Renaissance Astrology and Astronomy

• Mythography

• Agricultural studies

Publications:

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

Academic experience:

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