Friday, February 8, 12:15 - 1:30, Butler Library 210
"City of Remedies, Cures and Comforts: Rome during the Catholic Reformation."
To speak of Rome during the Catholic Reformation is to conjure up a picture of a city under construction, of building projects designed to materialize the grandeur of papal families and a triumphant Catholic Church, of broad new avenues with dramatic vistas and plazas with theatrical fountains, and, of course, of the imposing architectural structures of Bernini and Borromini. Rome stood unchallenged as the artistic capital of Europe, the longed-for destination of artists and intellectuals all across northern and southern Europe. Overlooked, however, is her place within the early modern European imagination as a center for every form of health care for mind and body. Studying the perceived benefits of varied technologies of healing in this period prompts both a reappraisal of Rome’s significance in the early modern period and a reconsideration of twenty-first century attitudes to civic health and wellness.
Biography
Frances Gage joined the faculty at Buffalo State in 2008. Her recent research considers the history of art collecting, art criticism and theory and the intersections between art and medicine in early modern Italy. She is currently completing a book on the therapeutic and preservative effects of art in early modern Rome.
