Diana Gisolfi, Pratt in Venice Director and Professor of Art History, participated in the 2021 Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, which took place virtually in April, 2021.

She delivered a paper, ”Cinquecento Façade Frescoes of Verona and Venice: Matters of Practice” in the session A Fresh Look at Fresco in Venice, chaired by Lorenzo Buonanno.

While Renaissance exterior frescoes in the city of Venice were “eaten by the sea” (Vasari) within the 16th century, many in the stato di terra survive to this day. Among the towns in the Republic where private palaces displayed frescoes on their facades were Treviso, Bassano, and Verona. Scholars like Michelangelo Muraro and Gunther Schweikhart have contributed to our knowledge of these exterior paintings. Joyce Plesters said in a lecture (1986) that Paolo Veronese’s practice in oil was informed by his experience in fresco; the observation applies as well to the practice of some of his compatriots. This paper will explore the use of techniques that were common to the practice of fresco and that of oil painting, with emphasis on examples by painters trained in Verona.

Additionally, Gisolfi chaired the session Expanding the Canon: New Research on Artemisia, Marietta Tintoretto, Sofonisba, and Lavinia Fontana, originally scheduled for the postponed 2020 conference. This panel featured three papers by scholars about art by Italian women.

She also served as discussant in the Save Venice-sponsored session Tintoretto Revisited, organized by Sarah McHam, featuring papers on the work of Tintoretto.

The Renaissance Society of America is the largest international academic society devoted to the study of the era 1300–1700. Founded in 1954, the RSA has thousands of members around the world, and supports scholarship in a number of ways, including publications, notably Renaissance Quarterly, a book publication program, and fellowship program.