Center for Early Modern Studies Conference
Spiritual Optiks': Jesuits and Visual Culture
Free and open to the public
Sponsored by the Center for Early Modern Studies,
the Anonymous Fund, the Center for Visual Culture, the Center for
European Studies, The Center for German and European Studies,
the Departments of Art History, History of Science, German, French
and Italian, and the Society for Emblem Studies
Center for Early Modern Studies
cems.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Memorial Library
Special Collections
6-7 May, 2013
Monday, 6 May - Room L 150 Elvehjem
“Spiritual images appeal to the spiritual
eye, the oculi mentis and are therefore
proper to the spiritual optiks”
(Henry Hawkins, S.J.)
As missionaries, scholars, teachers, authors, and members of
learned academies, members of the Society of Jesus exerted great
influence on the world of early modern European book culture, in
particular illustrated volumes in fields such as astronomy,
mathematics, history, travel, geography, as well as works of
systematic theology, prayer books, and preaching manuals. Notably,
Jesuits published more emblematic books than any other group
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Jesuits employed
symbolic images as means of instruction and the dissemination of
scholarship. The Ratio Studiorum of 1599 included instructions on
the production of mnemonic images and emblems as part of the
rhetorical inventio. This practical aspect of their pedagogy and
dissemination strategy led to a wealth of materials that help us to
understand today how the Jesuits influenced the ways that the early
modern period interpreted and constructed knowledge through
symbolic representation and allegory.
Laurence Grove (Glasgow):
"Jesuit Emblems and Catholic Comics"
Tuesday, 7 May - Memorial Library Special Collections
9 am Introduction:
Sabine Mödersheim (Madison):
"The Heart of Man: A Jesuit Emblem Book Goes Global"
10 am
Peter M. Daly (Montreal):
"Jesuits, Emblems and Knowledge Transfer"
11:30 am
Pedro F. Campa (Chattanooga):
"The Origin and Early Development of the Jesuit Emblem"
2 pm
Meridith Beck Sayre / Nick Jacobson (Madison):
"'A Place Where No Men Dwell, Nor Souls Pass Away': Spiritual and
Geographic Visualization in Giambattista Riccioli's Selenography"
Florence C. Hsia / Robin Rider (Madison):
"Jesuits and the Construction of Knowledge, 1540–1773"
4 pm
Volker Remmert (Wuppertal):
"Picturing a Jesuit Empire of Knowledge"
7 pm Conference Dinner