On the occasion of the exhibition “Queens of Egypt” at the Pointe-à-Callière Museum, the Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal is pleased to announce the conference “L’idée de l’Égypte et la Renaissance italienne” by Marco Piana, Postdoctoral Fellow in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Toronto.
Tuesday October 30, 11am
Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Maison-des-Marins, 165 place D’Youville
Free admission – Discussion in French language
Reservation request
The Italian Renaissance has always been deeply fascinated by Ancient Egypt since the progressive rediscovery of ancient philosophers’ writings like Jamblique and the pseudo-Hermes Trismestigus. Egyptian antiquity has often been considered as a source of forgotten (and sometimes prohibited) knowledge. This is the reason why it has rapidly started expanding like a complex story thoughout all the Italian social classes, from kings and popes to humble taverns and houses of prostitution . This conference will examine some particular cases concerning the dialogue between the Italian Renaissance and the Egyptian alterity/antiquity, from the highest types of exaltation to the most virulent kinds of demonization.
Marco Piana is a post-doctoral fellow in medieval studies and in studies concerning the Renaissance at the Toronto University, Department of Italian Studies. His field of research focuses on the literary representation of religious alterity and identity at the beginning of Modern Europe’s creation. He focuses especially on Gianfrancesco Pico della Mirandola, Girolamo Savonarola and the Neoplatonic revival in Italy. He is currently research assistant to the project “Égalité et superiorité dans les traités pro-femmes de la Renaissance et du début de la modernité” directed by Professors Marguerite Deslauriers and Laura Praelipcean. He is also related to the Graduate Studies in the project Early Modern Conversions, directed by Professors Paul Yachnin and Stephen Wittek.