Tuesday 19 September 2023, at 3:00-5:00 PM, Auditorium Palazzo Prodi - Department of Humanities, via Tommaso Gar 14, Trento

In 2022, three decades after its initial composition, an unprecedented and visionary exploration of the history of art in Europe was published in the ‘I libri di XY’ series. Curated by Decio Gioseffi, a distinguished art historian renowned for his particular specialization in perspective, this work represents a comprehensive analysis of the entire evolutionary spectrum of Western art, starting from its relationship with the legacy of Antiquity and exchanges with Near Eastern art, and culminating in the excellences that shaped and characterized the Italian and European Renaissance (with plans for a continuation into the latter half of the twentieth century).

One of the most captivating aspects of the book is the modernity with which Decio Gioseffi applies an operational method from the scientific world to the historical narrative of art, a method that he extensively discussed during his long collaboration with Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti. This is made possible not only through the author’s specialized knowledge but also by his ability to place artistic production within the context of society and history.

A salient feature of this work lies in its modern application of a unified operationalist method derived from the scientific realm to the historical narrative of art, a method extensively discussed during the enduring academic collaboration between Decio Gioseffi and Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti. Such an approach is made possible not only through the author’s specialized knowledge but also through his aptitude to contextualize artistic production within the context of society and history. Consequently, Storia dell'arte in Europa unfolds as a rich, interconnected fabric featuring beautiful passages that also touch upon fashion, literature, engineering and technology, military strategy, and the history of languages.

A discussion between Claudio Strinati and Franco Purini, moderated by Denis Viva, will revolve around the uniqueness of this operationalist method and its significance in the realm of art dissemination. 

In addition to the printed volume, the Università degli Studi di Trento Publishing House is pleased to present an open-access digital edition of the book, published in collaboration with Il Poligrafo Publishing House. This digital edition is further enriched by an interactive atlas featuring selected images chosen by the curators, complementing Gioseffi’s text with some of the most emblematic elements drawn from his introductory university lectures on art history and method.

THE VIDEO RECORDING OF THE EVENT IS AVAILABLE.

On Monday 13th February 23 the boardroom in the Region Building in Trieste, Friuli Venezia Giulia, held the presentation of the volume Art History in Europe by Decio Gioseffi, published by Il Poligrafo and Trento University in the series I libri di XY, with Società di Minerva and Trieste Contemporanea. The lecturers attending were Valerio Terraroli, professor of History of Art Criticism at Verona University, and Nicoletta Zanni, former professor of History of Art Criticism at Trieste University and supervisor of the volume with Giuliana Carbi Jesurum.

Among the numerous projects to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Decio Gioseffi’s birth (1919-2007), promoters have considered this first-time volume as an extremely interesting opportunity to print one of the last works written by the scholar from Trieste, one of the most representative personalities of the Italian artistic and historical culture of the second half of the 20th century.

The book collects prestigious examples of European art history through the centuries, from the Altamira caves to the late Renaissance (with the author’s intention to include the second half of the 20th century, too), and it deals with the entire Western artistic chain, from its relationship with the heritage of the Ancient world and the exchanges with the Near East, to the excellences that have generated and distinguished the Italian and European Renaissance.

The volume has been enriched with some of the most emblematic pictures he used in his introductory and methodological university lectures. What fascinates the reader is Decio Gioseffi's modern application of a procedural method deriving from the scientific world to the historical narration of art events, which he often discussed during his long-time association with Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti and which comes from the author’s extensive knowledge reaching beyond his field of speciality. Therefore, the passages dedicated to place the artistic production in society and in history are crucial and this Art History in Europe extends widely and beautifully to include fashion, literature, engineering, technology, military strategy, and the history of languages.

Decio Gioseffi (Trieste 1919 – 2007)

Scholar in the Lincei Academy, former member and the President (from 1980 to 1989) of the Committee for the Artistic and Historical Heritage at the Italian Ministry of Culture (once Superior Board of Fine Arts), after the degree in Archeology and Ancient Art History in Padua he became, in 1943, assistant to Luigi Coletti then to Roberto Salvini at the Trieste University, then lecturer and finally director of the Institute of Medieval and Modern Art History from 1964 to 1993. With Perspectiva artificialis: per la storia della prospettiva. Spigolature e appunti (Olivetti Award in 1957), he started his pioneering studies on perspective and the representation of space in art, which he continued in 1960 with La cupola vaticana: un’ipotesi michelangiolesca (IN/ARCH Award in 1962) and with his monograph Giotto architetto (1963).

Il settimo convegno internazionale di studi organizzato dal 27 al 29 ottobre 2016 dal Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca sull’Iconografia della Città Europea dell’Università di Napoli Federico II si propone di affrontare la questione dei “media”, ossia delle metodologie e delle tecniche narrative utilizzate per rappresentare e diffondere l’immagine del paesaggio nella storia moderna e contemporanea, e dei potenziali modelli ad essi correlati ai fini della valorizzazione del patrimonio storico paesaggistico.

Il convegno è strutturato in quattro macrosessioni tematiche, che indagano, rispettivamente, la costruzione nella storia dell’immagine del paesaggio urbano e rurale, in cui si coniugano elementi naturali e antropici (macrosessione A, coordinatori: Leonardo Di Mauro, Fabio Mangone), le modalità di descrizione e comunicazione del paesaggio, sia in età moderna che in età contemporanea (macrosessione B, coordinatori: Annunziata Berrino, Gilles Bertrand), le tecniche e gli strumenti impiegati per la rappresentazione del paesaggio, tra tradizione e innovazione (macrosessione C, cooordinatori: Antonella Di Luggo, Ornella Zerlenga), il ruolo dell’immagine del paesaggio nella conservazione delle memorie del passato (macrosessione D, coordinatore: Aldo Aveta).

Ogni macrosessione è articolata in sessioni che affrontano questioni più specifiche nell’ambito dei temi proposti e prevendono anche l’apporto di contributi disciplinari diversi. La scadenza per l’invio degli abstracts, in italiano oppure in inglese, è stata posticipata al 31 gennaio 2016. I testi saranno oggetto di double blind peer review e saranno pubblicati in formato digitale (eBook con ISBN) in occasione del convegno.