Acknowledgements
For the opportunity to organize a conference in Florence, ‘Material World: The Intersection of Art, Science, and Nature, in Ancient Literature and Its Renaissance Reception’, 20–21 April 2018, I owe the greatest debt to Michael Kwakkelstein, director of the Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut in Florence. I thank him for supporting a project that incorporated historians of art and philosophy of antiquity as well as those working in fields closer to the scope of the NIKI, including early modern visual and scientific culture. The library of the NIKI, high up on the hill south of the Arno, is an idyllic place to immerse oneself in early modern Italian culture. In addition to Michael, several other members of the institute contributed to the success of the conference and this publication of its proceedings: director of the library Gert Jan van der Sman, who chaired a session and could be counted on for advice on Botticelli, and administrator Sabine Elders, who handled all of the expenses of the conference and this book. Special thanks to Charlotte Siegers, Maartje Visser, and the other graduate students at the NIKI for their assistance with and interest in the conference, and for maintaining a lively atmosphere. Stefano Baldassarri and Marieke van den Doel contributed to the conference by chairing sessions. I wish to thank one member of the original audience in particular, Marco Beretta, for especially valuable comments. Glenn Most was unable to chair a session but very generous with his time and insights. One contributor was unable to participate in the proceedings but gave a memorable paper on the classical rainbow. My work in Florence benefitted from the professional assistance and advice of Mario Iozzo, director of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze, who allowed me to use the library of the Soprintendenza, and from the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, where much of the research for this project was carried out. Special thanks to James Pilgrim for his interest in the project and his company. For its conception, this project is indebted to three people in particular. Dennis Geronimus, for introducing me to the NIKI; Mardon Nichols, for helping me think through the relevant ancient authors, and Verity Platt, for suggesting several of the speakers. Thank you to all of the contributors for your participation in the conference and for your stimulating papers. For assistance in compiling the papers into a book, I owe a very big thanks to Rebecca Cain, who patiently copy-edited all of the contributions prior to submitting the manuscript to Brill. I thank Rebecca also for preparing the index. For proofreading the essays in Italian, I thank Michael Kwakkelstein and Ilaria Masi. At Brill, I thank Ivo Romein for efficiently shepherding the manuscript through the review process. For help with copy-editing and proof-reading, I thank production editor Dirk Bakker. All the contributors to this volume thank the outside reviewers for their corrections and suggestions. Finally, my greatest debt is to Elizabeth McGowan, who has contributed to the shaping of this project, at every stage, from its inception until this moment, in many significant ways.
Guy Hedreen
Williams College