Synagonism: Theory and Practice in Early Modern Art

Yannis Hadjinicolaou, Ph.D. (2023, University of Hamburg) is Akademischer Rat a.Z at the Institute of Art History, University of Bonn. He has published the monograph Thinking Bodies – Shaping Hands, Handeling in Art and Theory of the Late Rembrandtists (Brill, 2019) as well as five edited volumes and numerous articles on art and art theory of the early modern period. His latest book is The Art of Medieval Falconry (Reaktion Books, 2024).Joris van Gastel, Ph.D. (2022, University of Zurich) is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Art History in Zurich. He has published widely on early modern art, with a particular focus on Roman baroque sculpture and the art of Southern Italy, and is co-editor of the collected works of Heinrich Wölfflin. His book on materiality and identity in baroque Naples is forthcoming.Markus Rath, Ph.D. (2016, Humboldt University of Berlin) is Assistant Professor of Art and Knowledge in the Early Modern Period at the University of Trier. He was previously a research assistant at the Humboldt University, at the German Centre for Art History in Paris and at the University of Basel. His dissertation examined movable sculpture (Die Gliederpuppe. Kult – Kunst – Konzept, Berlin/Boston 2016). His current research focuses on abstraction and expressivity in the early modern period as well as metaphorology, materiality and mediality in pre-modern art and science.

• List of FiguresNotes on ContributorsSynagonism: An IntroductionYannis Hadjinicolaou, Joris van Gastel, and Markus RathPART 1: Theory and Practice1 El Greco’s SynagonismYannis Hadjinicolaou2 Touch and Trace: Clay in the Hands of the Baroque SculptorJoris van Gastel3 Raphael’s Mond Crucifixion and the Lesson of Santa Maria NovellaFranz EngelPART 2: Collaborations4 Normatively Conditioned Synagonism: Competition and Collaboration, Specialization and Quality Enhancement in the Context of Guild Monopolies on PaintingDanica Brenner5 A Soul for a Bridge: On the History of Architectural Collaborations with the DevilJasmin Mersmann6 The Burden of Success in Quattrocento Sculpture: Lorenzo Ghiberti, Mino da Fiesole, DonatelloFabian JonietzPART 3: Intermedialities7 Sound Spaces: Visualizations of Religious Music in CaravaggioIsabella Augart8 Beyond the Paragone: Andrea del Sarto’s Color-Reduced Fresco Cycle in the Chiostro Dello Scalzo in Florence Considered as a Case Study of SynagonismHelen Boeßenecker9 Medial Diffference and Medial Synthesis in the Winged Altarpiece: The Oscillating Play of Artforms and the Range of Human VisionSandra HindriksPART 4: Nature and Art10 Hands at Work: The Stone Cutter and the ArtistMaurice Saß11 Renaissance Architectural Culture and Geological InquiryElizabeth Petcu12 Synagonism in StoneMarkus RathIndex