Ing. Gerd Micheluzzi, M.A.

Gerd Micheluzzi’s research interests revolve around the artistic legacy of the Italian 14th and early 15th centuries, with a special focus on the intersection of painting and natural philosophy. In his current project he is mostly concerned with the phenomenon of cast shadows: their functional dimension in medieval painting as well as their traces in optical, encyclopedic and literary sources.

In March 2021 Gerd Micheluzzi joined the DFG-Centre for Advanced Studies Imaginaria of Force at the University of Hamburg, where he is also a Junior Researcher at the Department of Art History. Gerd Micheluzzi earned his BA and MA in Art History at the University of Graz. From 2016–2019 he was a Junior Researcher at the University of Vienna, supervised by Prof. Dr. Michael Viktor Schwarz. He is currently working on his PhD project on Cast Shadows in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Painting. He was awarded various grants and scholarships, which allowed him to conduct research at the Austrian Historical Institute of Culture in Rome, the Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz (Max-Planck-Institut), as well as the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

• Kristina Kogler / Alexander Marx / Gerd Micheluzzi, Narrare. Reflexionen über die Anwendung von Erzähltheorie auf das Mittelalter, in: Vienna Doctoral Academy – Medieval Academy (Hg.), Narrare–Ordinare–Producere. Neue Zugänge zum Mittelalter, Wien 2021, pp. 13–27 (OpenAccess publication, abrufbar unter: https://depot.phaidra.at/detail_object/o:264).
• Micheluzzi, Gerd, Apostolorum Gloriosissimus Princeps. St. Peter Healing the Sick with his Shadow in Late Medieval painting between the Acts and the Golden Legend, in: Stanislava Kuzmova und Andrea-Bianka Znorovszky (Hg.), Mary, the Apostles, and the Last Judgment: Apocryphal Representations from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, Budapest 2020, pp. 187–220.
• Micheluzzi, Gerd, Der Schlagschatten im Trecento am Beispiel von Taddeo Gaddis Verkündigung an die Hirten, in: Zeitschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Linguistik, 180/2015, pp. 98–120.

• The Force of Privation. How Cast Shadows Accentuate Spatial and Ontological Boundaries in Trecentesque Painting, International Medieval Congress, Leeds, Session Breaking the Boundary - Forces and Counter-Forces in Medieval Italian Art (06.07.2022)
• Von größerer Kraft? Phänomene der Dunkelheit und Finsternis in frühneuzeitlicher Kunst und Naturphilosophie, invited by Prof. Dr. Daniela Hacke, Freie Universität Berlin, Forschungskolloquium Kulturgeschichte der Frühen Neuzeit (27.06.2022)
• Ex luminis privatione. Cast shadows as spatial references in Pietro Lorenzetti’s Assisi Passion Cycle, International Congress on Medieval Studies 2022, Kalamazoo, Section Encountering the Sacred in Medieval Italian Spaces (13.05.2022)
• Der Schatten zeigt das Licht? Erkundungsgänge durch Kunst und Naturphilosophie des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts, Abendvortrag an der Universität Rostock – Institut für Physik, im Rahmen des Symposiums zum Day of Light 2022, invited by Wiebke Loseries (16.02.2022)
• Illustrationen des Codex Altonensis: Imaginierte und dargestellte Überzeugungskraft, Abendvortrag am Christianeum Hamburg zum Dante-Jubiläum, invited by Björn Baron von Maydell (21.10.2021; nochmals am 16.06.2022)
• Response – Lecture by Sophie Dieberger: Troja im Trecento. Organisation, Gestaltung und Funktion des Illustrationszyklus des Roman de Troie Cod. 2571 (Wien, ÖNB). PhD–Colloquium of the Vienna Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies, Research Cluster Art History and Visual Culture (16.01.2021)
• Evening Lecture – Von Raum und Zeit. Der Schatten als literarisches und künstlerisches Motiv im hohen und späten Mittelalter. University of Vienna, Arbeitskreis Wiener Altgermanistik, invited by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Matthias Meyer (09.01.2020)
• Guest Lecture – „To see more, in this the mind declines“? Dante Alighieri and Cecco d’Ascoli on shadows. Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Department of Philosophy, Medieval Gatherings. Meetings and discussions on medieval philosophy and beyond, invited by Nicola Polloni Ph.D. (19.12.2019)
• Quasi naturalis iuris? Medieval Cast Shadows between Art and Science. Summer School: Structuring Nature, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin / Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science Berlin (28.07–03.08.2019)
• Apostolorum Gloriosissimus Princeps. St. Peter Healing the Sick with his Shadow in Late Medieval Painting between Acts and Golden Legend – A Critical Appraisal. International Medieval Congress Leeds (01.–04.07.2019)
• “Un’invenzione dantesca, dai trecentisti non voluta intendere”? Cast Shadows in Early Modern Painting. An Attempt in Deconstructing the General Narrative. Conference: Same Old Things? Re-Telling the Italian Renaissance, Courtauld Institute of Art in London (03.05.2019)
• Response – Lecture by Jan Cemper-Kiesslich: Bio- und molekulararchäologische Überlegungen zur Reliquienforschung Theoretische Erwägungen, Kasuistiken und eine kritische Evaluierung. Conference: Narrare – Ordinare – Producere, organized by the Vienna Doctoral Academy – Medieval Academy, University of Vienna (07.–09.03.2019)
• Moderation – 3rd panel, Conference: Narrare – Ordinare – Producere, organized by the Vienna Doctoral Academy – Medieval Academy, University of Vienna (07.–09.03.2019)
• Posterpresentation – Title: Shadows. Function and Genesis of Cast Shadows in Late Medieval and Early Renaissance Painting. Conference: Narrare – Ordinare – Producere, organized by the Vienna Doctoral Academy – Medieval Academy, University of Vienna (07.–09.03.2019)
• „Non vi maravigliate; ma credete“! Die Darstellung des Schlagschattens im Trecento als reflexive Form? Colloquium of Prof. Wolf-Dietrich Löhr, Freie Universität zu Berlin (12.02.2019)
• Apostolorum Gloriosissimus Princeps. Die Darstellung der Schattenheilung Petri im Kontext spätmittelalterlicher Kirchenpolitik – Eine Neubewertung. Workshop: Neue Tendenzen der Italienforschung, Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz, Max-Planck-Institute (03.–04.12.2018)
• Moderation – 1st panel, Conference: Das Buch als Medium – Mittelalterliche Handschriften und ihre Funktionen, Department of Art History, University of Vienna (01.–02.09.2017)
• Zwischen Illusion und Allusion: Die spätantike Schlagschattendarstellung am Beispiel von Santa Maria Maggiore in Rom. Austrian Historical Institute of Culture in Rome (13.–14.06.2017)
• No Cast Shadows in Post-Classical Italy before Masaccio? An Attempt in Deconstructing an Art-Historical Topos. Giotto Circle, Courtauld Institute of Art in London (13.02.2017)
• Fiat umbra! Die Wiederentdeckung des Schlagschattens im Trecento. Conference: Umbriferi prefazi, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (03.–05.07.2014)

University of Hamburg, Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar:

• WiSe 2021/22, Seminar: Bilder jenseits der Erfahrung. Illustrationen der Göttlichen Komödie des Dante Alighieri
• WiSe 2021/22, Excursion: Hamburger Bibliotheca Christianei und das Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle; im Anschluss an das Seminar: Bilder jenseits der Erfahrung. Illustrationen der Göttlichen Komödie des Dante Alighieri
• SoSe 2021, Seminar: On the art of making the invisible present: reflections, shadows and other light effects from medieval to modern art
• WiSe 2020/21, Study Tour: Uffizi Gallery Florence (online): Giotto's legacy: tradition, transformation and innovation in the painting of the Italian Trecento
• WiSe 2020/21, Seminar (online): Giotto's legacy: tradition, transformation and innovation in the painting of the Italian Trecento

Technical University of Berlin, Department of Philosophy-, Literature-, Science- and Technical History:

• WiSe 2019/20: Afternoon-session at the Hauptseminar Ancient and Medieval visions of Light and Color, by Prof. Dr. Katja Krause and Nicola Polloni Ph.D. (20.12.2019)

University of Vienna, Department of Art History:

• SoSe 2018, Proseminar II/III: Bildlicht und Lichteffekte von Giotto bis Leonardo da Vinci
• WiSe 2017/18, Seminar (assistant): Vom armarium zum idea shop. Bibliotheken von der Antike bis in die Zukunft, held by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Viktor Schwarz and Univ.-Prof. Dr.phil. Mag.art. Robert Stalla
• WiSe 2016/17, Seminar (assistant): Malerei und Buchmalerei im Trecento-Florenz, held by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Michael Viktor Schwarz

Cast shadows. More powerful than light and yet deficiency

According to Leonardo da Vinci, the ambivalent phenomenon of the shadow can be characterized as a deficiency of light (privatione di luce), while being of greater power (di maggiore potenzia) due to its ability to veil bodies entirely. In particular, the powerful nature of the shadow is evident where Leonardo speaks of the strike or impact (percussione) of a very specific form of shadow: the cast shadow.

Cast shadows are already referred to as vim naturae or privatio in medieval sources, whereby the latter is to be thought of as dependent on Aristotelian hylomorphism: as an accidental deficiency, which, added to matter, gives it the potency to unfold a dynamis directed towards Being – regarding shadows towards a potential state of light. Of particular interest in this context is the coincidence of several writings on optics, which circulated especially in the Franciscan milieu of the 13th century, with some purposefully placed trecentesque depictions of the cast shadow in central Italy.

Comprising several case studies, the aim of this art historical project is to reveal these interdependencies and to provide evidence that under very specific conditions the reintegration of the cast shadow as vim naturae already took place in advance of its supposed return in early 15th century painting.

Based on these considerations, a follow-up project is currently being developed which, under the working title In the Point of Infinity, will deal with phenomena of the unfolding of forces, i.e. their concentration and diffusion in the visual arts between the 15th and 17th centuries.

According to Leonardo da Vinci, the ambivalent phenomenon of the shadow can be characterized as a deficiency of light (privatione di luce), while being of greater power (di maggiore potenzia) due to its ability to veil bodies entirely. In particular, the powerful nature of the shadow is evident where Leonardo speaks of the strike or impact (percussione) of a very specific form of shadow: the cast shadow.

Cast shadows are already referred to as vim naturae or privatio in medieval sources, whereby the latter is to be thought of as dependent on Aristotelian hylomorphism: as an accidental deficiency, which, added to matter, gives it the potency to unfold a dynamis directed towards Being – regarding shadows towards a potential state of light. Of particular interest in this context is the coincidence of several writings on optics, which circulated especially in the Franciscan milieu of the 13th century, with some purposefully placed trecentesque depictions of the cast shadow in central Italy.

Comprising several case studies, the aim of this art historical project is to reveal these interdependencies and to provide evidence that under very specific conditions the reintegration of the cast shadow as vim naturae already took place in advance of its supposed return in early 15th century painting.

• Conference: Philosophical Perspectives on Medieval Theories of Science, together with Yael Barash (Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv) and Dominic Dold (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin); Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin (27.–29.09.2022)
• Conference Section: Breaking the Boundary - Forces and Counter-Forces in Medieval Italian Art, together with Isabella Augart and Tanja Hinterholz, supported by Forschungsnetzwerk Italienforschung and DFG-CAS »Imaginaria of Force«, International Medieval Congress, Leeds (06.07.2022)
• Conference of the DFG-CAS »Imaginaria of Force«: Wahrnehmungskräfte – Kräfte wahrnehmen. Dynamiken der Sinne in Wissenschaft, Kunst und Literatur, together with Laura Isengard, Warburg-Haus Hamburg (09.–11.06.2022); Conference Report: Dennis Borghardt, Tagungsbericht zu: Wahrnehmungskräfte – Kräfte wahrnehmen. Dynamiken der Sinne in Wissenschaft, Kunst und Literatur. H-Germanistik, 01.07.2022 (available online: https://networks.h-net.org/node/79435/discussions/10434408/tagb-wahrnehmungskräfte-–-kräfte-wahrnehmen-dynamiken-der-sinne)
• Conference: Narrare–Ordinare–Producere. New Approaches to the Middle Ages, co-organizer, coordinator and speaker Section »Narrare«, Universität Wien (07.–09.03.2019)

• Poster Exhibition: Einbildungskraft in ‚Gold und andern Farben‘. Illustrationen der Göttlichen Komödie am Beispiel des Codex Altonensis; Kunstgeschichtliches Seminar of Universität Hamburg, Conception together with students of the seminar Bilder jenseits der Erfahrung. Illustrationen der Göttlichen Komödie des Dante Alighieri in WiSe 2021/22, opening on 08.06.2022

Funding:

• 2019–20: Marietta Blau Stipendium des Österreichischen Bundesministeriums für Wissenschaft und Forschung/Österreichischer akademischer Austauschdienst (OeAD)
• 2016–19: Uni:docs-Fellowship for Doctoral Candidates, excellence-program by the University of Vienna
• 2016: Rome-grant, Austrian Academy of Science (OeAW)
• 2012: Research grant, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz

Associate Member/Researcher:

• Medieval History and Philosophy of Science Discussion Group (since 2020)
• Vienna Doctoral School of Historical and Cultural Studies, Research Cluster Art History and Visual Culture (since 2020)
• Research association Visual Cultural History – Cultures and Media of the Visual, HFK Visuelle Kulturgeschichte – Medien des Visuellen, University of Vienna (since 2018)
• Vienna Doctoral Academy – Medieval Academy (2016–20)

Member:

• Roger Bacon Research Society (RBRS)
• Association of Austrian Art Historians (VÖKK)
• Verband Deutscher Kunsthistoriker (VDK)