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Conference papers

 

 

 

Forthcoming

 

'Mysterious Geometries and Melancholy Numbers : From Ficino to Dürer',  Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Berlin 26-28 March 2015.


Scholars during the Renaissance were familiar with the story of the inscription in the Academy forbidding anyone unskilled in geometry to cross the threshold. In his Commentary on the Eighth Book on Plato’s Republic, Ficino dealt at length with the intricacies of mathematical speculation and the philosophy of number. Similarly, Albrecht Dürer devoted much time and thought to the study of complex geometry. In his Art of Measurement the painter stated that without geometry no one can either be or become an absolute artist. This paper aims to explore the possible link between Ficino’s complicated theories and Dürer’s determination to bring ideas to life through the power of mathematics.
 

List of past conference papers

 

'Sketching Wonderland: Aspects of the Lewis Carroll Collection at Christ Church', The Lewis Carroll Society Meetings, London,

1 October 2014.

 

'Visual Perception and the Neoplatonic Universe in the Works of Albrecht Dürer', Textual Cultures in Early Modern Europe. Keeble College, 28 September 2013.

 

'Emulation and Originality : Notes on the Impact of Works Produced in Transylvania during the Early Modern Period', Romanian in Oxford: Language, Culture and History. A One-Day Conference, Ertegun House, 11 May 2013.
 

'Reading Between the Lines – Ficino and the Vitruvian Man as Reflected in the Theoretical and Visual Works of Albrecht Dürer’, Fifty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Washington DC, 22-24 March 2012

'The “Lesser” Dürer? Broadsheets and the Newsreel Effect’, The Perils of Print Culture, Trinity College, Dublin, 10-12 September 2010.

'Drawing the Text: Ficino’s Furor Divinus and the Works of Albrecht Dürer, Fifty-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, Venice, 8-10 April 2010.

'Albrecht Durer's Broadsheets and the Emerging Ars Emblematica', All Souls Book History Seminar, Oxford, 5 February 2010

 

'La Oxford printre manuscrise si carti rare'. Interview for Radio Romania Cultural, 'Dupa 20 de ani', 5 May 2010.

 

'Humanism as Patria - Renaissance in the Kingdom of Hungary’, Humanism in Fifteenth-Century Europe, Conference organised by Medium Aevum and Corpus Christi, Oxford, 17 October 2009.

 

'The Books of Thomas Wolsey at Christ Church’, Collectors and Collections – Music, Prints, Antiquities, A Symposium presented by the Centre for the Study of the Book, Bodleian Library and Christ Chruch, Oxford, 20 November 2008.

 

‘The Processus sub Forma Missae and Nicolaus Olahus’, XXIX Congresso Internazionale di Studi Umanistici, Sassoferrato, Italy, 2-5 July 2008.

 

‘On the Soul Falling in Love : Ficino’s Influence on Lorenzo de’ Medici’s Comento de’ Miei Sonetti’, Renaissance Society of America annual meeting, Chicago, 3-5 April 2008.

 

‘Franciscan and Byzantine Art : A Story of Mutual Influence’, Franciscan and Orthodox Spirituality - Links and Affinities, St Theosevia Centre for Christian Sprituality, Oxford, 16 February 2008

 

'The Influence of the Flemish School of Illumination on the English Book Market : Horenbout, Dürer and Wolsey's commissions for Cardinal College', Texts & Contexts IV - The Role of Latin in Early Modern Europe, University of Arhus, 17-20 May 2007.

 

'Nicolaus Olahus (1493-1568) and His Hungaria-Athila', Oxford Hungarian Society, 31 January 2007.

 

'Giordano Bruno the poet : Self-fashioning and codified rhetoric in exile', International Association for Neo-Latin Studies, XIII International Congress, Budapest, 6-12 August 2006.
 

'Woodcuts and magic: Ficino’s theory of the image and Giordano Bruno', Renaissance Society of America annual meeting, San Francisco, 23-25 March 2006.

'Lecturi (in)fidele: Apariţii editoriale importante [Notable Romanian publications in 2005]', with Liliana Maiden, Oxford Romanian Society, 6 March 2006.

'Codified rhetoric and subversive imprints in Giordano Bruno’s works published in England', Innovations and Reproductions in Cultures and Societies (IRICS) - Spreading the Word: Texts and the Text, Vienna 9-11 December 2005.

'Identifying schools of illumination', workshop for Oxford Experience, Christ Church, 19 July 2005.

‘Frances Godwin, Ficino and Giordano Bruno’s lectures at Oxford’, Renaissance Society of America annual meeting, Cambridge (UK), 28 April 2005.
 
‘The Jesuits, Nicolaus Olahus and the Counter-Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary’, Cambridge Society for Neo-Latin Studies, Clare College, Cambridge (UK), 3 March, 2005.
 
‘Giordano Bruno and the end of Eminescu’s Luceafărul’ : Universitatea Al.I.Cuza, Iaşi, 13-16 May 2004.
 
Rhetorical theology, Nicolaus Olahus and the Counter-Reformation in the Kingdom of Hungary’, Renaissance Society of America annual meeting New York, 25-27 March 2004).
 
‘Changes in the iconographical canon: 15th and 16th century Italian Books of Hours in the Bodleian Library’: Oxford Bibliographical Society, Oxford, 20th November 2003.
 
‘The Hungaria-Athila : Nicolaus Olahus’ formula of a chorography of the orbis loca and orbis gesta, International Association for Neo-Latin Studies’, Twelfth International Congress, Bonn, Germany, 3-9 August 2003.
 
‘The Use of Information Technology within the Oxford Libraries System’: International seminar on Industrial Change and the New Technologies, Mamaia, Romania, 6-9 June 2002.
 
'Supra-literacy, common texts and designer images: 15th- and 16th- century Books of Hours': The Renaissance Society of America annual conference, Scottsdale, Arizona, 11-13 April 2002.
 
'The Poetry of Dürer and the Etching of Language': The Renaissance Society of America annual conference : Florence, 23 March 2000.
 
'Processus sub Forma Missae and Nicolaus Olahus: Christian Alchemy, Identity and Identification': Warburg Institute, 1997.
 
'Ways and Means of Converting Romanian Classic Literary Pieces into Cinematographic Melodramas': Melodrama Conference, British Film Institute, London, 1992.
 
'S.T.Coleridge -"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", Text, Vision and Revision': University of Bucharest, 1992.
 
'Murder in the Cathedral - The Ritual Ballet of T.S.Eliot's Poetical Drama': University of Bucharest, 1989.
 
'Donjuanism and Don Juan': University of Bucharest, 1989.
 
'The God in the Mirror - Remarks on the Prose Writings of Mihai Eminescu': University of Sibiu & Transilvania annual conference, 1988.
 
'Love under the Sign of the Ellipse - The Ebony Tower by John Fowles': University of Bucharest, 1988.
 
'The Courtier as Poet, the Destiny of a Book and the Long Journey from Play to Performance': University of Bucharest, 1987.
 
'Myth and Vision in The Man Who Died by D.H.Lawrence': University of Bucharest, 1986.
 
'The Mystery of the Arabian Sign in "Sărmanul Dionis" by Mihai Eminescu': University of Iaşi, 1986.
 
'The Motif of the Golden Flower in "Avatarii faraonului Tla" by Mihai Eminescu and in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare': delivered as a student to the University of Iaşi, 1985.
 
'Symbols and Rites of Initiation in "Făt Frumos din lacrimă" by Mihai Eminescu and the Grail Romances': delivered as a student to the University of Iaşi, 1984.
 
'Island as Hyperspace in "Cezara" by Mihai Eminescu and in The Tempest by William Shakespeare': delivered as a student to the Universities of Bucharest and Iaşi, 1983.

 

Conference coordinator for

 

Oxford Bibliographical Society Lectures 2005-2014

Greyfriars Oxford Centre for Franciscan Studies 2009-2012
Oxford University Heraldry Society 2009-2010
Oxford Romanian Society Debates Hilary 2006.

 

 

 

 

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