It’s Complicated: Landscapes and the Dynamics of Unfolding in Medieval and Early Modern Painting
- Public event without registration
- Date: Feb 23, 2026
- Time: 11:00 AM - 01:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Gerd Micheluzzi
- Location: Villino Stroganoff, Via Gregoriana 22, 00187 Roma
- Contact: raffaele.rossi@biblhertz.it
- Region: Abroad
- Topic: Discussion and debate formats, lectures
Since at least Georg Simmel, notions such asmanyfold, enfolding, or unfolding have echoed through landscape discourse—mostnotably in the writings of Tim Ingold, Lucius Burckhardt, and François Jullien.Central to these approaches is the metaphor of unfolding, which articulates aphenomenologically grounded understanding of landscape not as a static entity,but as a relational and dynamic experience constituted through perception.
Building on this background,Gerd Micheluzzi examines the assumptions embedded in the concept of unfoldingand explores its analytical potential for landscape studies, with particularattention to medieval and early modern representations of landscapes andlandscape fragments. The argument is informed by case studies gathered during arecently completed experimental pilgrimage along a section of the ViaFrancigena. The paper asks whether a focus on unfolding can bring to lightqualities of landscapes that have hitherto received little scholarly attention.Gerd Micheluzzi is an art historian trained in Graz and Vienna. He is aresearch associate at the University of Hamburg, since 2021 as a member of theDFG Centre for Advanced Studies »Imaginaria of Force«. His work focuses onmedieval and early modern Italian art, art theory, and proto-scientificknowledge. His dissertation on cast shadows in Italian painting (ca. 430–1430)will appear with De Gruyter in 2026. He is currently co-authoring a book onTuscany with Luc Wodzicki (Rome).
Scientific Organization: LucWodzicki in cooperation with the Österreichisches Historisches Institut Rom(ÖHI)