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[In-Person/Online] Lecture by NIKI scholar-in-residence Eelco Nagelsmit, June 3 , 2025: ”Exhibiting evidentia through ‘Ancient Icons’ in seventeenth-century Franciscan polemics”

In the 1650s, Capuchin friar Carolus of Brussels responded to a ban on publishing about Franciscan dress by using visual art as evidence. He commissioned paintings based on medieval prototypes and published prints (Icones antiquae) to support his censored views. Eelco Nagelsmit’s project examines how such images served as historical proof in religious debates and whether they reflected emerging empirical methods or older traditions of legitimizing faith.

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PhD writing workshop in Planning History (21-23 May 2025)

Gabriel Schwake is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Interested in the influences of finance, nationalism, conflicts, and identities on the process of spatial production, Gabriel’s current research project explores the relationship between debt and urban development. During his time at the NIKI, Gabriel will study the inception of Florentine debt-reliant urbanisation and the ways in which it influenced the development of the city.

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Civil War in Ancient Rome and Early Modern Florence: Medici Patronage and the Example of the Classics

In 1478 the Florentine banking family of the Pazzi, aided and abetted by intimates of Pope Sixtus IV, prepared an attempt on the life of the capi of their rivals, the Medici, at that time the dominant party in Florentine finance and politics. The leading role of the Medici in Florence promised that the undertaking, were it to be successful, would be considered a spectacular feat. Yet by itself the violent disposal of political enemies was by no means exceptional in early modern Italy.

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Call for Papers: Hirsute, Downy, Hairless. Meanings and Forms of Body Hair in Early Modern Visual Culture

While long overlooked in art historical studies, over the past two decades body hair has emerged as a significant field of research, offering new perspectives on Early Modern visual culture. The presence or absence of body hair serves as an indicator of aesthetic (or artistic) preferences and prevailing social norms specific to certain periods and locations, revealing complex intersections between art and real life. This two-day workshop will take an interdisciplinary approach to exploring body hair in visual culture, focusing on themes such as gender norms, religious symbolism, artistic practices, and cultural variations.

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