The American Academy in Rome and the Society of Fellows will sponsor five panels at the 2017 meeting of the Renaissance Society of America, to be held in Chicago.

Reading the Symbols
March 30, 2017, 10:30am–12:00pn
Palmer House Hilton, Seventh Floor, LaSalle 2

Reading the Symbols: Pathways in Renaissance Iconography
Chair: Marco Antonio Piana (McGill University)
During the Renaissance, the relationship between word and image was closely subordinated to specific cultural dynamics. The conception of iconography, tied to visual or textual archetypes, matured with the development of humanism, which introduced a new way of interpreting literary and material sources and provided new perspectives on the classical past. The aim of this panel is to analyze and discuss a range of sixteenth-century iconographies in order to better understand the intellectual dynamics behind their construction. Focus will fall on semantic shifts and innovative symbolism.

Thomism and Renaissance I
April 1, 2017, 8:30am–10:00am
Palmer House Hilton, Seventh Floor, Clark 10

Thomism and Renaissance II
April 1, 2017, 10:30am–12:00pm
Palmer House Hilton, Seventh Floor, Clark 10

Thomism and Renaissance
Chairs: Paul Richard Blum and Kent Emery
Two panels commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Paul Oskar Kristeller’s Le Thomisme et la pensee italienne de la Renaissance (1967) which argued the continuity, during the era of renaissance humanism, of philosophical positions and methods associated with medieval scholasticism. Each panel features an eminent senior historian of philosophy as respondent.

Chapels in Roman Churches I
April 1, 2017, 1:30pm-3:00pm
Palmer House Hilton, Seventh Floor, Burnham 2

Chapels in Roman Churches II
April 1, 2017, 3:30pm-5:00pm
Palmer House Hilton, Seventh Floor, Burnham 2

Chapels in Roman Churches between the Cinquecento and the Seicento: Form and Meaning
Chairs: Steve F. Ostrow, University of Minnesota (2002 Fellow), and Patrizia Tosini, Universita di Cassino e del Lazio Meridionale
Two panels on church interiors in the pre- and post-Tridentine era as complex sites for the elaborate self-representation of individuals, families, and social groups. Panelists present their historical, philological, and iconographic research to offer new insights about some of Rome’s most venerable liturgical sites.