Moveable Type and the Early Modern Imaginary
Image reproduction and the Early Modern mental universe
The Early Modern printing press enabled the mass-distribution of news through text and image. In this lecture, art historian Stephanie Leitch investigates how these images, in turn, shaped the production of knowledge across genres and in the minds of Europeans. A fictive feather skirt worn by native Americans in early German printings of Amerigo Vespucci’s account, for example, became one of the best-known exports of the early modern press. Although this invented artifact was originally the mark of an unrepentant cannibal, by the close of the century, it had come to signal ingenuity in resource management that also carried the cachet of abundance. The adjustable feather skirt became a shapeshifting symbol to demarcate the line between civilization and the wild – just one of host of images to appear in maps, travel narratives, and print series that informed the mental universe of the era.
Meet the speaker
Stephanie Leitch is Professor of Art History at Florida State University, where she specializes in early modern European art, with a focus on the Renaissance and Germany and the history of printmaking. Her work explores how early modern prints and printed books construct and circulate visual information about peoples, places, and objects within the broader…
