Dr. Stephanie Leone (Associate Professor, Fine Arts Department)
Dr. Paul Vierthaler (Digital Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow)
Thursday, November 19, 2015 @ 3 - 4 pm
Center for Teaching Excellence Seminar Room (O’Neill Library 251)
Boston College
The history of art and architecture in Baroque Rome has essentially been told through singular relationships between powerful patrons and great artists, with Pope Urban VIII Barberini (r. 1623-1644) and Gianlorenzo Bernini best exemplifying the model. The patronage of Urban VIII’s successor, Innocent X Pamphilj (r. 1644-1655), has traditionally been perceived as paling in comparison partially because it fails to fit this pattern. In her current book project, Stephanie Leone proposes a new paradigm for understanding the collective contribution of Innocent X and his relatives to the buildings arts of Rome. Rather than privileging a single artist, Pamphilj patrons made use of many creative resources to realize multiple building projects in a short period of time. To understand the Pamphilj enterprise, Leone is focusing on the mechanics of patronage and artistic production, which involved a large network of individuals, from artists and artisans to advisors and administrators. This focus has led to network analysis as a tool for understanding the "large data" and interpreting the relationships among actors. Paul Vierthaler has been assisting Leone with the network analysis tool, Gephi. In this workshop, they will present the work in progress and lead a discussion about the use of network analysis for historical inquiry.
Additional information about each presenter can be found on their sites: Stephanie Leone, Paul Vierthaler.
This event is organized by the Digital Scholarship Group, Boston College Libraries, and hosted by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE).
