The first issue of the new periodical dedicated to art history art in the countries around the Baltic Sea. Co-publishers of the journal: Estonian Academy of Arts, Gdansk University and three Lithuanian institutions: Vilnius Academy of Art, Lithuanian Art Museum, and Culture, Philosophy and Arts Research Institute.

The second issue of the AHAB comes out under the title of Art and the Sacred. Ritual and religious objects, today classified as art, were once not claimed as such. Clearly, artworks that were intended for religious services were not created on purely aesthetic grounds; they were not intended to be art works per se. Nevertheless, academic practice and discourse has treated them primarily as art even though the word ‘sacred’ is placed before the word ‘art’ in these discourses. In today’s scholarship, the proliferation of anthropological research vividly indicates the tensions that exist between art and what is considered sacred.

Reflection on the history and practice of art history has long been a major topic of research and scholarship, and this volume builds on this tradition by offering a critical survey of many of the major developments in the contemporary discipline, such as the impact of digital technologies, the rise of visual studies or new initiatives in conservation theory and practice. Alongside these methodological issues this book addresses the mostly neglected question of the impact of national contexts on the development of the discipline. Taking a wide range of case studies, this book examines the impact of the specific national political, institutional and ideological demands on the practice of art history. The result is an account that both draws out common features and also highlights the differences and the plurality of practices that together constitute art history as a discipline.

Exploring the formation of networks across late medieval Central Europe, this book examines the complex interaction of merchants, students, artists, and diplomats in a web of connections that linked the region. These individuals were friends in business ventures, occasionally families, and not infrequently foes. No single activity linked them, but rather their interconnectivity through matrices based in diverse modalities was key. Partnerships were not always friendship networks, art was sometimes passed between enemies, and families created for financial gain. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, the chapters focus on inclusion and exclusion within intercultural networks, both interpersonal and artistic, using a wide spectrum of source materials and methodological approaches. The concept of friends is considered broadly, not only as connections of mutual affection but also simply through business relationships. Families are considered in terms of how they helped or hindered local integration for foreigners and the matrimonial strategies they pursued. Networks were also deeply impacted by rivalry and hostility.

Early Modern Universities: Networks of Higher Education contains twenty essays by experts on early modern academic networks. Using a variety of approaches to universities, schools, and academies throughout Europe and in Central America, the book suggests pathways for future research.

New Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Poland and Prussia: The Impact of Gdańsk draws together the latest reseach conducted by local historians and archaeologists on the city of Gdańsk and its impact on the surrounding region of Pomerania and Poland as a whole. Beginning with Gdańsk’s early political history and extending from the 10th to the 16th century, its twelve chapters explore a range of political, social, and socio-cultural historical questions and explain such phenomena as the establishment and development of the Gdańsk port and city. A prominent theme is a consideration of the interactions between Gdansk and Poland and Prussia, including a look into the city’s links with the State of the Teutonic Order in Prussia and the Kingdom of Poland under the rule of the Piast and Jagiellonian dynasties. The chapters are placed in the historical context of medieval Poland as well as the broader themes of religion, the matrimonial policy of noble families or their contacts with the papacy. This book is an exciting new study of medieval Poland and unparalleled in the English-speaking world, making it an ideal text for those wanting to deepen their knowledge in this subject area.

Locations of Knowledge in Dutch Contexts examines how places give shape to scientific knowledge production. Contributors to this volume use four hundred years of Dutch history as laboratory to contribute to spatialized understanding of the history of knowledge.