The Impact of Plague Mortality and Demographic Depression on the Arts of Early Renaissance Florence

FAIN: HB-273416-21

Costanza Gislon Dopfel
St. Mary's College of California (Moraga, CA 94575-2715)

Research and writing leading to a book on the connection between the Black Death and the origins of the Italian Renaissance.

The project explores the relationship between epidemics and artistic production in 15th century Italy. Its goal is to understand how the horror of recurring plagues fueled the exceptional intellectual and artistic energy of the Renaissance. The focus is on Florence, as its responses to pandemics are particularly well documented. Paradoxically, as the town braced itself every ten years for a new plague event and faced the threat of societal extinction, it also became the center of artistic innovation. The study suggests an innovative approach that analyzes how art mediates and reflects modifications of social behavior as a response to stress and population decline. The link between human and intellectual fertility unveils not only a connection between female reproductive duties and the iconography of childbirth, but also between art, literature and the public trauma caused by depopulation.

Associated Products

Blessed Fertility (Book)
Title: Blessed Fertility
Author: Costanza Gislon Dopfel
Editor: Charlotte Taylor
Abstract: The principle result of the NEH award was a new volume entitled Blessed Fertility. The manuscript is not complete, but is already under contract with Routledge. I entered the first three chapters for a book competition with the NWAA supported by Routledge, and my manuscript received honorable mention.
Abstract: The principle result of the NEH award was a new volume entitled Blessed Fertility. The manuscript is not complete, but is already under contract with Routledge. I entered the first three chapters for a book competition with the NWSA supported by Routledge, and my manuscript received honorable mention.
Year: 2023
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: N/A

Prizes

Honorable Mention
Date: 9/1/2021
Organization: NWSA/Routledge Subversive Histories, Feminist Futures
Abstract: Blessed Fertility was a finalist for the NWSA prize, and finally received an Honorable Mention

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