History of the Arts in Early Modern Europe

Established in 2026, the chair is dedicated to the study of the figurative arts—painting, sculpture, as well as visual or plastic art forms considered minor—within the context of the various cultures that shaped Europe, both within and beyond its geographical borders, from the 15^th to the 17^th century. It aims to address the challenge of the Old Continent’s marginalization in global studies by rethinking research tools and methods in order to preserve and deepen the capacity for analysis and interpretation of specific historical and cultural contexts, while connecting them to other realities in an interconnected world.

This chronological framework encompasses a pivotal moment in the history of the arts and culture, not only because the period straddles the Renaissance and the modern era, but also because it witnessed the emergence of an especially rich early conception of modernity. Maintaining a complex relationship with models of the past, this conception laid the groundwork for another form of modernity—that of the contemporary world. The chair’s research thus examines the history of the arts in Europe—both within and beyond its borders—during a period whose uniqueness must be understood both in relation to its historical legacy and in dialogue with our own time.

In a world dominated by the relentless succession of images and the semantic instability it engenders, art history provides the tools and perspectives necessary to understand visual representation in terms of its dynamics of construction and to define its hermeneutic framework. Ancient works of art offer a lesson in permanence through the density of their material and their silence, through the radiance with which they come alive at just the right distance, within the immanence of the present. The materiality of their craftsmanship bears the trace of the artist’s gesture, the vibration of the temporality of creation, reanimated by the attentive gaze of the viewer. The course will focus on restoring the works’ figurative language in light of the various contexts of the eras they have traversed and on reactivating their capacity to inspire wonder in the context of the present.