Erasmus Seminar: Ekphrasis as an Instrument of Religious Persuasion in Erasmus of Rotterdam

Dear colleague,  

The Erasmus of Rotterdam Research Centre (ERRC) offers regular Erasmus Seminars, where we bring together scholars with a research interest in Erasmus. The formats of these seminars range from discussions of recent literature to in-depth lectures. On behalf of the ERRC, we are happy to invite you to our next seminar on Thursday 16 June 2022. In this seminar, Barbara Kaminska will join us in Rotterdam to present her newly published research about ekphrasis in the writings of Erasmus.

What? Erasmus Seminar with a lecture by Barbara Kaminska

When? Thursday 16 June 2022, 15:00

Where? Campus Woudestein, ESPhil, Bayle Building J5-62/64 (Glasbak)

Ekphrasis as an Instrument of Religious Persuasion in Erasmus of Rotterdam

Guided by the question of how images – material and mental – enhance readers’ spiritual experience, this presentation will consider the importance of visuality and vividness in the oeuvre of Erasmus of Rotterdam. Analysing Erasmus’s epigrams, colloquia, and selected passages of his Paraphrases and spiritual writings, Barbara Kaminska will propose that the humanist used ekphrasis and energeia as instruments that allowed him to reconcile his devotion to the word with the understanding that a visual image has a stronger effect on a reader/viewer.

Bio
Barbara Kaminska is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Barbara received her M.A. from the University of Warsaw (2007), and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2014). She is the author of two books: Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Religious Art for the Urban Community (2019) and Images of Miraculous Healing in the Early Modern Netherlands (2021). In addition, Barbara has published numerous essays on interconfessional networks in Antwerp, history of hospitality and charity, and Erasmus’s writings on visual arts. Barbara’s current projects focus on the cultural history of disability.

Kind regards,

Han van Ruler
Ronald van Raak
Sanne Steen