Presented By: Medieval and Early Modern Studies (MEMS)
Premodern Colloquium | "The Inquisition and the Image."
Adam Jasienski (Associate Professor of Art History, Southern Methodist University)
We hope you will join us on Thursday, April 10th at 4:00 PM EST when Adam Jasienski (Associate Professor of Art History, Southern Methodist University) engages us in conversation about a draft chapter from a new book project, tentatively titled "The Inquisition and the Image."
Dr. Jasienski sets up his project as follows:
"The Inquisition and the Image is a study of the Spanish Inquisition’s archives through the lens of visual culture. The hundreds of thousands of preserved inquisitorial trials provide an unparalleled—and almost entirely unstudied—source for how people lived within the complex world of art objects that filled the early modern Hispanic world: how they made them, what they did with them, and what hopes and beliefs they placed upon them.
Because of how ambitious this project is (analyzing material from twenty-six inquisitorial tribunals on three continents across over three centuries), I chose to structure my book according to problems that arise time and again in the institution’s archives, rather than trying to create a comprehensive catalogue of every case where images and artworks appear. I strive to read the inquisitorial trials against the grain to attempt to grant agency to individuals accused of sacrilege: why might they have acted the way they did, if they actually knocked over a statue of a saint? What else might have been at play? What can we glean of their motivations and beliefs from the often very terse descriptions of the witnesses and notaries? How, in sum, can we return some dignity to the individuals who are often only marginally present in the discussions about their own purported actions?"
Host Brendan McMahon (U-M History of Art) will begin admitting participants to the meeting at 3:50. Discussion begins at 4:00 and concludes by 5:30.
Dr. Jasienski sets up his project as follows:
"The Inquisition and the Image is a study of the Spanish Inquisition’s archives through the lens of visual culture. The hundreds of thousands of preserved inquisitorial trials provide an unparalleled—and almost entirely unstudied—source for how people lived within the complex world of art objects that filled the early modern Hispanic world: how they made them, what they did with them, and what hopes and beliefs they placed upon them.
Because of how ambitious this project is (analyzing material from twenty-six inquisitorial tribunals on three continents across over three centuries), I chose to structure my book according to problems that arise time and again in the institution’s archives, rather than trying to create a comprehensive catalogue of every case where images and artworks appear. I strive to read the inquisitorial trials against the grain to attempt to grant agency to individuals accused of sacrilege: why might they have acted the way they did, if they actually knocked over a statue of a saint? What else might have been at play? What can we glean of their motivations and beliefs from the often very terse descriptions of the witnesses and notaries? How, in sum, can we return some dignity to the individuals who are often only marginally present in the discussions about their own purported actions?"
Host Brendan McMahon (U-M History of Art) will begin admitting participants to the meeting at 3:50. Discussion begins at 4:00 and concludes by 5:30.
