The Art of the Network:
Visualising Social Relationships, ca. 1400 – 1600

The Annual Renaissance Postgraduate Student Symposium

In recent years, the analysis of social networks has generated a fruitful field of scholarly enquiry. Research addressing the dynamics that govern personal relationships within and without communities of various kinds has permeated through historical, anthropological, and sociological studies. These investigations have traced the ways in which societies structured according to gender, family bonds, and neighbourhood ties as well as political, professional, and religious associations regulated social interaction. However, the role of art and architecture in cultivating these interpersonal relationships has not been explored comprehensively. Even art historical approaches have frequently given preference to textual rather than visual evidence in elucidating these social networks.

This conference seeks to shed light on the ways in which social networks have been represented visually. Such an approach has great potential to deepen the discussion surrounding the commission, production, and reception of art and architecture between 1400 and 1600.

This conference is generously sponsored by the Sackler Research Forum, Courtauld Institute of Art, the CHASE AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership Cohort Development Fund, and the Society for Renaissance Studies.

‘The Art of the Network’ is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is strongly encouraged:
http://courtauld.ac.uk/event/the-art-of-the-network