The seminar will investigate how the cultural phenomenon of Renaissance antiquarianism influenced critical visions of the past in works published between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Working with the collections of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, participants will explore critical methods and techniques of investigation evident in a selection of works on antiquarian erudition. Topics will include philology, archaeology (with a specific focus on epigraphy and numismatics) as well as art. The main goal of the seminar is to help participants understand how these fundamental tools of antiquarian scholarship contributed to the development of new scientific methods in the early modern period.

Instructor

Damiano Acciarino holds a Marie Curie Global Fellowship at Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia and at the University of Toronto, with a project regarding theory and evolutions of Renaissance antiquarianism. Dr. Acciarino has published two monographs as well as several articles on antiquarian scholarship and classical tradition during the Renaissance in various international academic journals.

For further information, please contact David Fernández at david.fernandez@utoronto.ca.

Location: Maclean-Hunter Room, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. Located at the north-west corner of St. George and Harbord Streets, immediately south of Robarts Library, and accessible from the second floor of Robarts Library.

Note: When you enter the library you will be asked to leave any outerwear and bags in the lockers provided and take the elevator down to the first floor, where the MacLean Hunter Room is located. Feel free to bring notepaper and a pencil (no pens please).