Since antiquity buildings have carried inscriptions on their surface. In particular, the habit of decorating façades with epigraphs spread in early modern Europe in keeping with the all’antica revival. The 2022 issue of the journal Opvs Incertvm (Department of Architecture, University of Florence) aims to investigate the role of new and ancient inscriptions (i.e. spolia) in secular and religious architecture (ca. 15th-18th centuries) from an aesthetic, political, literary and artistic point of view. Whether they were realized, or only projected in drawings, the “facciate parlanti” engaged in a close dialogue with public spaces and their audience. While the inscriptions could be in different languages and media (carved on stone, graffite or painted), they always retained a particular relationship with the building itself.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the relationship between inscriptions and the patron’s ambitions and culture, the role of literati, iconographical advisers and antiquari and the social and urban context of the building.
Edited by Alessandro Brodini and Maddalena Spagnolo.
We welcome papers in Italian, English, French, German and Spanish.
An abstract of 500 words ca., and a brief cv, preferably in English or Italian, can be sent to alessandro.brodini@unifi.it and maddalena.spagnolo@unina.it.
Deadline for proposals: 30 June 2021
Notification of acceptance: 30 July 2021
Deadline for the definitive text: 30 April 2022
Publication: before the end of 2022
Opus Incertum has a double-blind peer review
https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/oi
Medieval Art Research 