“From Sacred to Secular”

 Art History Supplement, January 2015

Deadline for submission of 150-word abstracts: December 1, 2013

Deadline for submission of final papers: July 1, 2014

Contact: Katherine T. Brown, Guest Editor, ktbrown@walsh.edu

Art History Supplement seeks papers about works of art from any time period or culture that embody a dichotomy of the sacred and secular, especially works whose meanings or functions changed from devotional to civic, or vice versa, soon after creation or over an extended period of time. As an example, the image of the Madonna della Misericordia, or Mary of Mercy, has origins in Marian devotion but was adopted by lay confraternities as civic emblems of charity in 14^th-century Italy. In a more well-known example, Michelangelo originally sculpted the David in a religious context for placement on the Florentine Duomo. Yet after its completion in 1504, the work became a civic symbol for the Florentine Republic in its placement outside the Palazzo della Signoria. Likewise, Donatello’s Judith and Holofernes of 1460 depicts an Apocryphal theme that also served as a political metaphor for Medici rule in Florence.

Papers must contain a minimum of 3,000 words. Authors are responsible for securing high-quality digital images and securing rights to reproduce them electronically. Additional author guidelines can be found here: http://www.arths.org.uk/about/journal/author-s-guidelines