Prof. Dr. Alessandro Nova

Director emeritus

Phone: +39 055 24911-83
Fax: +39 055 24796-63
E-Mail: nova@khi.fi.it

Alessandro Nova studied "Lettere e Filosofia" at the Università degli Studi di Milano (1973–1978) and Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (1978–1982), where he received his Ph.D. with a thesis on the artistic patronage of Pope Julius III. He earned his Dottorato di Ricerca from the Università degli Studi di Milano in 1986 with a thesis on the Brescian artist Girolamo Romanino in the context of north Italian painting and sixteenth-century culture. His research was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung (1985–86, 1989), the J. Paul Getty Foundation (1986–1987), and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (1992–1994).

From 1988 to 1994 he was Assistant Professor at Stanford University. He then went on to teach at the Humboldt Universität in Berlin, at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales – CEHTA (Centre d’histoire et théorie des arts) in Paris and at various other international institutions. From 1994 to 2006 he was Professor of Renaissance Art at the Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt am Main. In 2006 and 2007 he was also managing director of the Zentrum zur Erforschung der Frühen Neuzeit, Renaissance Institut in Frankfurt. He has been Director of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut from October 2006 to May 2022.

  • Art and Culture of the Early Modern Age
  • Art of Mannerism
  • German Edition of Giorgio Vasari's Vite
  • Theory and Perception of Art in the 16th Century (Representation of Invisible Worlds)
  • Leonardo da Vinci (Anatomy, Optics, Philosophy)
  • Religious Orders as Artistic Patrons
  • North Italian Painting in the 16th Century (Parmigianino, Romanino)
  • Drawing of the Early Modern Age
  • Patrons of the Early Modern Age
  • Methodological Questions
  • Founder of the Forum Kunstgeschichte Italiens (with Georg Satzinger and Ulrich Pfisterer, 2005)
  • Malvasia advisory board of the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA, since 2008)
  • Comitato consultivo internazionale per la realizzazione dei Nuovi Archivi del Futurismo (since 2009)
  • Consiglio scientifico del Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio, Vicenza (since 2011)
  • Scientific Advisory Board der Historisch-Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät, Universität Wien (since 2014)
  • Jury of the Bourses Robert Klein de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art et de la Villa Finaly (since 2017)
  • Commissione per l'edizione nazionale dei manoscritti e dei disegni di Leonardo da Vinci (since 2018)
  • Consiglio scientifico del Centro di Palazzo Te, Mantova (2007–2010)
  • Courtauld Institute Research Forum Advisory Board, London (2008–2011)
  • Scientific Advisory Board of NTM – Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Wissenschaften, Technik und Medizin (2008-2018)
  • Wolfenbütteler Arbeitskreis für Renaissanceforschung (2010–2012)
  • Conseil scientifique de l'École Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris (2010–2013)
  • Review Board Art History of Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (103-01, 2012–2015)
  • Comitato Scientifico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi, Firenze (2015–2017)
  • Journeys. The International Journal of Travel & Travel Writing (since 2002)
  • Collection Théorie de l'Art / Art Theory, 1400–1800 (since 2009)
  • Rivista d'arte. Periodico internazionale di arte medievale e moderna (since 2010)
  • Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge (since 2011)
  • Römische Historische Mitteilungen, ed. by Österreichisches Historisches Institut in Rom (since 2011)
  • Opus Incertum (since 2013)
  • La storia dell'arte. Temi, Viella (since 2015)
  • Figura. Studi sull'immagine nella Tradizione Classica (since 2016)
  • Grande Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (2005)
  • Honorary Professor at the Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main (since 2006)
  • Honorary Member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence (since 2008)
in selection

Biographische Spurensuche als Modus des Heroischen. Robert Klein und der „Sogno di Raffaello"

Lecture series 'Heldenbilder', Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, 19.12.2019

 

Intorno alla figura di Francesco Melzi

International Conference 'L'ultimo Leonardo, 1510-1519. Leonardo tra Milano, Roma e Amboise: committenze, progetti, studi fra arte, architettura e scienza', Palazzo Reale, Milan, 7.–8.11.2019

 

Il mare in tempesta come 'figura', metafora e stato d'anima

Seminar series 'Images en mouvement/ Mouvement en image', Institut national d'historiens de l'art de la Renaissance, Paris, 18.2.2019

 

Il concetto di Grazia nella teoria artistica dell ‛500

International Conference 'Francisco de Holanda (1517/18-1584): Arte e teoria no renascimento europeu' Centro de Arte Moderna da Fondação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, 23.11.2018

Stile e iconografia: Robert Klein e il Sogno di Raffaello di Marcantonio Raimondi

International Conference 'Robert Klein, Art Historian and Philosopher', Villa I Tatti/ Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 9.11.2018

 

Botanische Präzision und imaginierte Landschaften. Zeichnung als Naturerfindung bei Leonardo

Lecture series 'Disegno. Zeichnen und Entwerfen in der Frühen Neuzeit', Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a. M./ Graphische Sammlung des Städel Museums Frankfurt a. M., 23.10.2018.

 

Grace, Splendor, and Terribilità in the Art Theory of the 16th Century

Lecture series 'Bettman Lecture', Columbia University, New York, 19.03.2018

 

Leonardo and the Representation of Nature

W. Bernard Herman Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Art History, University of Toronto, 24.10.2016

   

Vasari versus 'Vasari', die doppelte Aktualität der Vite und wie die Edition für Klaus Wagenbach zu Stande kam

Salongespräch, Historische Villa Metzler des Museums für Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main, 5.07.2016

   

Leonardo und die Analogie

Internationale Renaissance-Tagung zu Ehren von Frank Zöllner (Renaissance-Forschung. Neue Wege – Neue Perspektiven, Nachwuchs-Kolloquium in Kooperation mit dem Institut für Kunstgeschichte Würzburg), Universität Leipzig, 25.06.2016

  

John Shearman's Leonardo

International Coference 'Leonardo in Britain: Collections and reception', Birkbeck College / National Gallery / Warburg Institute, London, 25.–27.05.2016

   

'La dolce morte': Leonardo's Anatomical Drawings and the Cognitive Value of Images

Lecture series 'Hogue-Sponenburgh Lecture', Willamette University, Salem, 14.04.2016

   

Leonardo da Vinci e la rappresentazione del mondo naturale

Ciclo di conferenze 'I Mercoledì di S. Cristina, Incontri con l'Arte – 2016', Aula Magna di S. Cristina, Bologna, 3.02.2016

  

The Portrait in the Art Theory of the 16th century

Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, 1.7.2015

   

Gratia und Splendor in der Kunsttheorie des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts

Symposium zum 60. Geburtstag von Ingo Herklotz 'La Grande Bellezza – Vom Lateran bis Hollywood', Philipps-Universität Marburg, 19.–20.06.2015

   

Vasari and Portrait

Peking University/Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts/Palace Museum, Peking, 31.03.2015

   

Vasari's Lives of Piero di Cosimo and the Limits of a Teleological System

CASVA – Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., 18.02.2015

Video

   

'Vasari' versus Vasari – Die doppelte Aktualität der Vite

IKFN-Vortragsreihe des Wintersemesters 2014/2015 'Die Macht des Wortes. Schlüsseltexte des 16. Jahrhunderts', Universität Osnabrück, 21.01.2015

   

Grazia und Terribilità in der Kunsttheorie des Cinquecento, Episteme in Bewegung

Interdisziplinäre Tagung 'Gratia. Mediale und diskursive Konzeptualisierungen in Mittelalter und Früher Neuzeit', Sonderforschungsbereich 980, Freie Universität zu Berlin, 12.12.2014

  

Das stürmische Meer als Allegorie, Metapher und Stimmungszustand

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, 12.06.2014

  

La Trasfigurazione di Raffaello come metafora della fede

Università del Salento, Dipartimento di Beni Culturali, Lecce, 27.05.2014

  

Der Sog des atmosphärischen Phänomens und der metaphorische Schrei: Leonardo, der Sturm und Poussins Pyramus und Tisbe

Festvortrag zur feierlichen Verabschiedung von Thomas Kirchner, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, 24.01.2014

   

Un'assenza al convegno del 1912: August Schmarsow

Convegno internazionale 'L'Italia e l'Arte straniera 1912–2012. La Storia dell'Arte e le sue Frontiere', Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Roma, 23.–24.11.2012

   

The Wind as a natural phenomenon and metaphor in the works of Leonardo and Poussin's Pyramus and Thisbe

NEH Summer Institute 'Leonardo da Vinci: Between Art and Science', Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 25.06.–13.07.2012

   

Giorgio Vasaris Vita des Leonardo da Vinci in den Editionen von 1550 und 1568: Quellen und Begriffe

Ringvorlesung 'Quellenkunde. Eine Einführung in die Gattungen und Begriffe der Kunstliteratur', Freie Universität zu Berlin, 16.02.2012

   

Air, Wind and Atmosphere in Leonardo's Graphic Oeuvre

International Conference 'Leonardo da Vinci: Painting as Philosophy', Warburg Institute, University of London und National Gallery, London, 2.02.2012

   

Vasari on Portraiture

Warburg Institute, University of London, 1.02.2012

   

La storia dell'arte 'lombarda' nelle Vite del Vasari

International Workshop 'Relating Identities: Alternative Stories of art for Northern Italy and Lombardy, 1500–2000', Universität Zürich, 17.12.2011

  

Vasari and the Portrait: Functions and Tensions

Symposium 'Vasari/500: Envisioning New Directions in Vasari Studies', Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 27.10.2011

  

Giorgio Vasari, le Vite e il genere del ritratto

Conferencia internacional 'Narratives biogràfiques en la Història de l'Art', Universitat de Barcelona, 19.–22.10.2011

   

Les portraits d'artistes dans les Vies de Giorgio Vasari

Série de conférences 'Les Vies de Giorgio Vasari: Histoire et création littéraire', Musée du Louvre, Paris, 17.10.2011

CONFERENCE ORGANIZATION (IN SELECTION)

Decoding Leonardo's Codices

International conference (with Paolo Galluzzi), in cooperation with Museo Galileo, with friendly support from Comitato Nazionale per la celebrazione dei 500 anni dalla morte di Leonardo da Vinci, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 10.10–12.10.2019.

 

Baroque to Neo-Baroque: Curves of an Art Historical Concept

International conference (with Estelle Lingo/ Lorenzo Pericolo/ Tristan Weddigen), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 3.6–5.6.2019

 

Translating the History of Art

Workshop (with Giovanna Targia), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 1.3.2019

 

Neue Tendenzen der Italienforschung zu Mittelalter und Renaissance

Third interdisciplinary workshop for young researchers (with Ingrid Baumgärtner/ Klaus Herbers/ Kordula Wolf/ Gerhard Wolf), in cooperation with FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg/ Universität Kassel/ Deutsches Historisches Institut Rom, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 3.12.–4.12.2018

 

Bad Reception: Expressing Disapproval of Art in Early Modern Italy

International workshop (with Diletta Gamberini/ Jonathan K. Nelson), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 15.11–16.11.2018

 

Robert Klein, Art Historian and Philosopher

International conference (with Jérémie Koering/ Aline Payne), in cooperation with Villa I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies/ Centre André Chastel/ Villa I Tatti, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut, Florence, 8.–9.11.2018

 

Art History Before English: Negotiating a European Lingua Franca From Vasari to the Present

International Conference (with Robert Brennan, Marco Mascolo und Oliver O'Donnell), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 8.–10.03.2018

   

The Network of Cassinese Arts in Mediterranean Renaissance Italy

International Conference (with Giancarla Periti), in cooperation with University of Toronto, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 16.–18.03.2017

   

La Sala Grande di Palazzo Vecchio e i dipinti di Leonardo

Convegno internazionale (con Emanuela Ferretti / Roberta Barsanti / Gianluca Belli / Cecilia Frosinini), Palazzo Vecchio / Università degli Studi di Firenze / Biblioteca Leonardiana in Vinci / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze/Vinci, 14.–18.12.2016

    

Giuliano da Sangallo 1516–2016

Giornata di studi (con Dario Donetti / Sabine Frommel), in cooperazione con l'École Pratique des Hautes Études – Sorbonne / Gabinetto dei Disegni e delle Stampe delle Gallerie degli Uffizi / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 17.–18.11.2016

   

Neue Tendenzen der Italienforschung zu Mittelalter und Renaissance

Zweiter Doktoranden-Workshop (mit Ingrid Baumgärtner / Klaus Herbers / Tanja Michalsky / Gerhard Wolf), in Kooperation mit der FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg und der Universität Kassel, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 7.–9.11.2016

    

Jenseits des Disegno? Die Entstehung selbständiger Zeichnungen in Deutschland und Italien im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert / Beyond Disegno? The Emergence of Independent Drawings in Germany and Italy in the 15th and 16th Century

Internationale Tagung (mit Daniela Bohde), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, mit freundlicher Unterstützung der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft, Firenze, 3.–5.03.2016

   

Platz-Bild / Imaging the Public Square

Internationale Tagung (mit Brigitte Sölch / Stephanie Hanke), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 22.–24.10.2015

   

Leonardo e gli altri / Leonardo in Dialogue

Internationale Tagung (mit Francesca Borgo und Rodolfo Maffeis), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 17.–19.09.2015

   

Pier Paolo Pasolini: Image, Body, Site / Immagine, corpo, luogo

International Conference (with Ara H. Merjian / Gerhard Wolf), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz / Villa La Pietra – New York University Florence, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 11.–12.06.2015

   

Simone Martini e il suo polittico per i domenicani di Pisa

Convegno internazionale ideato da Maria Monica Donato, in cooperazione con il Museo Nazionale di San Matteo (Pisa) / Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa / Università degli Studi di Firenze – Dipartimento SAGAS / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa / Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 27.–28.04.2015

   

Gli Allievi di Algardi. Opere, geografia, temi della scultura in Italia nella seconda metà del Seicento

Convegno (con Andrea Bacchi / Lucia Simonato), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz / Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa / Firenze, 9.–11.04.2015

   

Neue Tendenzen der Italienforschung zu Mittelalter und Renaissance

Doktoranden-Workshop (mit Ingrid Baumgärtner / Klaus Herbers / Gerhard Wolf), in Kooperation mit der FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg / Universität Kassel, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 13.–15.11.2014

   

Progetto e distopia / Architecture and Dystopia

Workshop (con Dario Donetti), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 16.–17.10.2014

   

Michelangelo. Arte – Materia – Lavoro

Convegno (con Vitale Zanchettin), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 9.–11.10.2014

   

Vasari als Paradigma. Rezeption, Kritik, Perspektiven

Internationale Tagung (mit Fabian Jonietz), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 14.–16.02.2014

   

Renaissance Revisited

International Conference (with Hannah Baader / Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 14.–15.11.2013

   

I conoscitori tedeschi tra otto e novecento

Convegno in onore di Luciano Bellosi e Miklós Boskovits (con Andrea De Marchi / Francesco Caglioti), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz / Università degli Studi di Firenze, Firenze, 11.–13.10.2013

   

Voir l'au-delà. L'expérience visionnaire et sa représentation dans l'art italien de la Renaissance (1430–1600)

Conférence internationale (avec Andreas Beyer / Philippe Morel), Institut national d'histoire de l'art, Paris, 3.–5.06.2013

   

The Announcement. Annunciations and Beyond

International Conference (with Hana Gründler / Itay Sapir), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 2.–4.05.2013

   

Leonardo on Nature

International Conference (with Fabio Frosini), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 1.–3.03.2013

   

Cappella e Cripta Scrovegni. Problemi aperti

Tavolo rotondo (con Chiara Frugoni / Salvatore Settis), Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Firenze, 11.02.2013

     

TEACHING AND SEMINARS (IN SELECTION)

Chair of the workshop 'Maniera and Mannerisms: a Historiographic Paradigm of Cinquecento Art'

Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Roma, 5.6.–6.06.2018

    

Podiumsgespräch 'Perspektiven und Visionen zukünftiger Italienforschung' auf der 6. Arbeitstagung des "Forum Kunstgeschichte Italiens"

Freiburg im Breisgau, 14.–16.03.2018

   

Presentazione del libro 'La Scuola Grande di San Marco a Venezia'

(con Mario Po' / Salvatore Settis / Gherardo Ortalli), Scuola Grande di San Marco, Venezia, 25.04.2017

    

Chair of the session 'New Research on Local Renaissance I' at the Annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America

Chicago, 30.03.–1.04.2017

    

Chair of a session at the International Conference 'The Silence of images. Theories and processes of artistic invention'

MAXXI – Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI secolo, Roma, 11.–12.12.2015

   

Chair of the session 'Calm before the Storm? Creative Idleness, Artistic Inactivity, and Non-Inspiration II' at the Annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America

New York, 27.–29.03.2014

      

TEACHING AND SEMINARS (IN SELECTION)

Vasari versus Vasari

Seminar Series Part II, W. Bernard Herman Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Art History, University of Toronto, 26.10.2016

   

John Shearman's Leonardo

Seminar Series Part I, W. Bernard Herman Distinguished Visiting Scholar in Art History, University of Toronto, 25.10.2016

   

Familien- und Grabkapellen in Florentiner Kirchen vom 14. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert: 'Memoria', Repräsentation, Ausstattung und narrative Strukturen II (mit Hans Aurenhammer)

Exkursion nach Florenz, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 9.–14.03.2015

    

Familien- und Grabkapellen in Florentiner Kirchen vom 14. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert: 'Memoria', Repräsentation, Ausstattung und narrative Strukturen I (mit Hans Aurenhammer)

Seminar, Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main, 13.–16.1.2015

   

Leonardo da Vinci between Art and Science

Seminar NEH Summer Institute, Firenze, 25.6.–13.07.2012

   

Problemi di Connoisseurship nella grafica del Cinquecento italiano: Romanino, Salviati e Vasari

Seminar, Fondazione Roberto Longhi, Firenze, 11.05.2011

   

Professor für Kunstgeschichte mit dem Schwerpunkt Renaissance

Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, 1994–2006

   

Assistant Professor

Stanford University, 1988–1992

Newsletter

Our Newsletter provides you with free information on events, tenders, exhibitions and recent publications from the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz.

If you would like to receive our newsletter, please enter your name and e-mail address:

*required field

Notes on the content of the newsletter and transit procedures

This letter is sent via MailChimp, where your e-mail address and name will be saved for sending the newsletter.

Once you have completed the form, you will receive a "Double-Opt-In-E-Mail," in which you are asked to confirm your registration. You can cancel your subscription to the Newsletter at any time ("Opt-out"). You will find an unsubscribe link in every Newsletter and in the Double-Opt-in-E-Mail.

You will receive detailed information about transit procedures and your withdrawal options in our privacy policy.