The present volume contains the papers that were delivered at the Dutch University Institute for Art History (NIKI) in Florence on April 20–21, 2018. In organizing a conference on the intersection between art, science and nature in ancient literature and its reception in Renaissance culture, our former scholar-in-residence Professor Guy Hedreen created an invaluable opportunity for the much needed dialogue between scholars of Classical studies and art historians working on the reception of ancient literature in Renaissance visual and literary culture. The outcome of this stimulating interaction is a fruitful crossfertilization of the multidisciplinary approaches to the topics addressed in the conference, thereby generating new insights across chronological and disciplinary boundaries. I am most grateful to Guy Hedreen for editing the papers and for bringing together in a single volume a collection of excellent studies on ancient texts that also make an important contribution to the current interest in materialistic theories of art and knowledge.
Michael W. Kwakkelstein
Dutch University Institute for Art History, Florence