Throughout the 16th century, the translation of sculptures, especially contemporary ones, into prints was quite uncommon – compared to the vast reproduction of paintings or drawn inventions in engravings or woodcuts.
Sculpture posed more difficulties to the printmaker. First of all, he had to render a three-dimensional object into two dimensions. Moreover the artist had to decide whether to complement his model: be it the fragmentary state of an ancient statue or the placing of a modern sculpture into a landscape or other setting. In many cases, printmakers even designed a whole narrative to round off their work. In addition to that, they had to choose the proper or best possible viewpoint. All these decisions were based on the strategies of the sculptor or printmaker regarding the publication of the print and its intended audience.

An essential aim of this session is to assess these and other related questions by analyzing prints produced between 1480-1600 in Europe and beyond. The session will continue a fruitful discussion started at the RSA conference 2016 in Boston, which included sculpture-related terminology in print inscriptions, the transformation of ancient sculpture in the early 16th century in Italy, and contemporary sculpture and its reception and interpretation via prints.

If interested, please send an abstract (150-word maximum) with paper title, keywords, and a brief curriculum vitae (300-word maximum) by May 21 to Anne Bloemacher (annebloemacher@uni-muenster.de) and Mandy Richter (richter@khi.fi.it). Submissions must be in English.