The independent drawing in Upper Germany, 1480 - 1530: an experiment with a new medium. Disarray on Calvary: representations of the Passion of Christ in German art around 1500. Bridges, trees and rivers: landscapes by Wolf Huber and his contemporaries.

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Daniela Bohde
• Subject Area: Art History
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 278806454

A: Beyond disegno? The emerging of independent drawings in Germany and ItalyOne of the most striking and barely known differences between Italian and German art of the Renaissance is the spread and the status of independent drawings. In Germany shortly after 1500, independent or finished drawings became common practice. They were executed not only by exceptional artists such as Albrecht Altdorfer but also by rather conventional draftsmen and unknown monogramists. In Italy, however, the independent drawing remained a marginal phenomenon although drawings were highly esteemed. Cartons were publicly displayed, drawings of famous artists were collected and finally disegno became a key-term of artistic theory. These issues will be addressed at an international conference in spring 2016, organized together with Professor Alessandro Nova at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence and in co-operation with the print and drawing collection of the Uffizi. The aim of the conference is to provide a better understanding of the production as well the reception of the independent drawing. The conference will inquire the criteria for the status of an independent artwork or a preparatory study. Regional differences and the relation between drawings and prints in both countries will be important topics. Special attention will be given to the role of art theory, since the independent drawing apparently flourished in a culture without any significant art theory and did not succeed in a field informed by disegno-theory. Did in this case Italian art theory rather restrain than encourage the artistic development? B: 'With false colors' - series of workshops about Upper German chiaroscuro drawings in European collections of prints and drawings In Germany around 1500, chiaroscuro drawings on a colored ground became a favorite technique besides drawing with a pen or a metalpoint on white paper. The colored ground drawing came in use in Italy around 1300 as a means to study the modelling of lights and shadows for tempera paintings. Swiss and German artists, however, employed the technique for finished drawings. It is significant that the color does not enhance the mimetic qualities of drawings as it does in watercolors or colored prints; it creates a very specific aesthetic, becoming prominent in the exuberant calligraphy of the white lines. This series of three workshops in the print and drawing collections of Berlin, Vienna and London aims to convene scholars from universities as well as curators and paper-restorers in order to discuss together the different techniques and visual strategies of the artists.C: For every serious study of drawings it is a must to work with the original drawings and to do research in the collections. I therefore apply for several shorter and longer stays at European prints and drawings collections.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants