Events

Past Event

Competing Truths: Art and the Objects of History after the Council of Trent

November 15, 2019 - November 16, 2019
3:30 PM - 6:00 PM
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Italian Academy and Frick Collection, New York City

Event Description: 

The event will bring together scholars and museum professionals in order to investigate how Italian art helped to formulate competing truths in the long aftermath of the Council of Trent, and how the strategies of that era continue to affect our understanding of historical truth today. Italian art of this period is often dismissed as propagandistic and derivative. This symposium instead fosters recent scholarship that shows the potency of art in shaping people’s beliefs during a time of deep political and spiritual divisions. Understanding how images and objects give shape to history and knowledge has never been more urgent. Thus, the aim of the symposium is not merely to advance scholarship, but to meet an acute contemporary need for perspective on how to navigate an era of competing truths.

Event Speakers:

Features Center for Science and Society Founding Director Pamela Smith. For a full speaker list, please visit the event webpage

Event Information: 

This is a two-day symposium to be jointly held at the Italian Academy at Columbia University and the Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library.

Seperate registration is required for each day. RSVP for Day 1 via the Italian Academy webpage and Day 2 via the Frick Collection webpage

If there are questions, please contact Alessandra Di Croce ([email protected]), Hannah Friedman ([email protected]) or Grace Harpster ([email protected]).