PROGRAMME

29 April

lecture by Alice Fornasiero, UFR Arts, Lettres, Communication,
Université Rennes

Lecture of 40 minutes followed by q&a plus discussion

The Italian ambassadors at the imperial court in Prague: art brokers under the guise of diplomacy

The artistic exchanges between the Italian courts and the Holy Roman Empire had been particularly intense throughout the early modern age. Objects of art, building projects, artists and architects often left Italy to take their way to the imperial court in Prague. Foreign sovereigns knew the passion for art works of Rudolf II and did not hesitate to present precious gifts through their ambassadors in order to obtain the emperor’s consent upon important diplomatic issues. On his part, Rudolf II did not disdain to make insistent requests for art works, which very rarely ended up in a refusal. Among all the courts, the Medici had frequent contacts with Prague. Francesco I de’ Medici had every interest in meeting the emperor’s demands. The title of Grand Duke was at stake, which, in a time of political conspiracies, risked not being confirmed by Rudolf II. The direct contacts between the sovereigns upon those issues were however very rare. The dispatches show that ambassadors and envoys had a crucial role in the dynamics of exchange of art objects and favours. In addition to diplomacy, ambassadors acted as art brokers and procurers of paintings, rare gems, exotic animals and food delicacies. The lecture partly relies on unpublished archival documentation that wants to underline the key role of the Italian ambassadors in building an efficient artistic network between Italy and Prague.

Alice Fornasiero is a teaching and research fellow in Modern Art History at the Faculty of arts, letters and communication at the University of Rennes 2. Between 2018 and 2021 she was the principal investigator of the postdoctoral research project entitled “Collecting in the 17th century Bohemian Kingdom. From Kunstkammer to Picture Gallery,” supported by the Charles University in Prague. She received a PhD degree in Modern Art History from the Catholic Theological Faculty at Charles University in Prague with a thesis on the artistic training of Bohemian painters in Italy and the patronage of the Bohemian aristocracy during the second half of the 17th century. She also holds a Master degree in Modern Art History from Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Her postdoctoral research focused on the role of Italian ambassadors at the imperial court. In 2021, she published a monograph dealing with collecting activity in Bohemia together with Eliška Zlatohlávková and Miroslav Kindl:From Studiolo to Gallery. Spaces for Collections in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown at the Threshold of the Early Modern Era (Prague,
2021). Several of her essays concentrate on the patronage of Rudolf II and the artistic exchange between the Italian courts and Prague, for example Alice Fornasiero, ʻLa stanza affrescata da Bartholomeus Spranger nella Torre Bianca al Castello di Praga. Uno studiolo dell’imperatore Rodolfo IIʼ, in C. Occhipinti (ed.), Leonardo nel Seicento: fortuna del pittore e del trattatista. Atti del convegno (Museo di Roma, 22 novembre 2019), Horti Hesperidum, II, 2019; Alice Fornasiero
and Eliška Zlatohlávková, ʻThe Studiolo of Rudolf II at Prague Castleʼ, in   Journal of the History of Collections, XXXII/2, 2020).