Claudia Swan - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Claudia Swan

Conchophilia, 2021

The opening chapter of Conchophilia. Shells, Art, and Curiosity in Early Modern Europe (Princeton... more The opening chapter of Conchophilia. Shells, Art, and Curiosity in Early Modern Europe (Princeton University Press, 2021). Addresses the labor that enabled the collection of exotic shells in the Netherlands and Europe more generally, and focuses on the work of Georg Eberhard Rumphius.

Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art / Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 2001

Image, Imagination, and Cognition, 2018

Notes on the Contributors Guy Claessens obtained his PhD in Classics at the University of Leuven;... more Notes on the Contributors Guy Claessens obtained his PhD in Classics at the University of Leuven; his dissertation studies the Renaissance reception of Proclus' Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements. His current research focuses on the reception of Proclus' natural philosophy from the fifteenth century onward and on Renaissance commentaries on Plato's Timaeus. He has published several articles on Neoplatonic concepts of imagination and matter in the Renaissance. He currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at the De Wulf-Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy at the University of Leuven.

Netherlands Yearbook for History of Art / Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 1999

A captivating historical look at the cultural and artistic significance of shells in early modern... more A captivating historical look at the cultural and artistic significance of shells in early modern Europe Among nature’s most artful creations, shells have long inspired the curiosity and passion of artisans, artists, collectors, and thinkers. Conchophilia delves into the intimate relationship between shells and people, offering an unprecedented account of the early modern era when the influx of exotic shells to Europe fueled their study and representation as never before. From elaborate nautilus cups and shell-encrusted grottoes to delicate miniatures, this richly illustrated book reveals how the love of shells intersected not only with the rise of natural history and global trade but also with philosophical inquiry, issues of race and gender, and the ascent of art-historical connoisseurship. Shells circulated at the nexus of commerce and intellectual pursuit, suggesting new ways of thinking about relationships between Europe and the rest of the world. The authors focus on northern Europe, where the interest and trade in shells had its greatest impact on the visual arts. They consider how shells were perceived as exotic objects, the role of shells in courtly collections, their place in still-life tableaus, and the connections between their forms and those of the human body. They examine how artists gilded, carved, etched, and inked shells to evoke the permeable boundary between art and nature. These interactions with shells shaped the ways that early modern individuals perceived their relation to the natural world, and their endeavors of art and knowledge. Spanning painting and print to architecture and the decorative arts, Conchophilia uncovers the fascinating ways that shells were circulated, depicted, collected, and valued, during a time of remarkable global change.

integrity of knowledge. Thank you for supporting free speech and the global exchange of ideas by ... more integrity of knowledge. Thank you for supporting free speech and the global exchange of ideas by purchasing an authorized edition of this book. If you wish to reproduce or distribute any part of it in any form, please obtain permission.

Tls-the Times Literary Supplement, 2017

The British Journal for the History of Science, 2006