The Furor of the Renaissance Painter: Representing Artistic Inspiration in Word and Image

• In Event: Reading the Symbols: Pathways in Renaissance Iconography

Abstract

The concept of artistic inspiration, which locates the origin of creation not in innate ingegno or in technical knowledge but in a sudden, external stimulus, is derived from religious and poetic contexts. Until the 16th century, there was no muse assigned to artists; only poets, prophets or evangelists could claim inspiration. In the Cinquecento, artists and art theorists began asserting that Furor also applied to their work. How did this notion, until then applied only to the production of texts, refer to visual images? In this paper, I will explore the strategies that artists developed to represent inspiration. These include iconographical choices and representational formulas, such as upward-looking eyes, Bacchic attributes, and moving hair. Based on case studies, I will investigate interactions between textual and visual conceptualizations of artistic inspiration.

Author

• Anna Magnago Lampugnani, Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte