The class will explore the role of art in negotiating cultural difference in the historical Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania. A crossroad of several trade routes, the state fostered religious tolerance legislation with hardly any parallel on the continent. Simultaneously, such social framework was not immune to ongoing tensions long before the advent of 19th-century nationalisms. In order to explore what ideals and challenges the concept of ‘commonwealth’ entailed before and during the emergence of nation-states, each seminar will focus on a specific cross-cultural encounter, including the Dutch, the Ottoman Empire, the Caribbean, and Russia.
