This paper theorises the use of spalted wood in Renaissance intarsia as a dialectical site mediating between decay, transformation, and the aesthetic of impermanence within the medical humanities. While the Renaissance is often framed as a period of humanistic revival and classical stability, intarsia’s reliance on fungal-decayed wood not as subjects of representation but as an agentic artistic medium presents an aesthetic counter-narrative of decay as a dynamic process of renewal. By considering the spalted wood inlays in Studiolo di Guidobaldo da Montefeltro (c. 1478–82), this paper argues that intarsia artisans galvanised decay as a material visual metaphor for the entangled cycles of life and death. As distinct from static representations of decay, fungal stains, fissures, and discolouration in intarsia materially embody death and dying as a continuous and vital process, thereby confronting the purported binary between growth and decline and the anthropocentric narratives of the Renaissance. The lens bridges art history and medical humanities by reframing decay as a generative force capable of shaping both artistic and bodily narratives rather than a threat to be eradicated; in an increasingly geriatric landscape, it opens up possibilities for more patient-centric interventions and ethical reflection on living with chronic illnesses. By linking Renaissance material practices to contemporary medical humanities debates about embodiment, mortality, and the “afterlives” of the body, the paper concludes by suggesting how modern medical visual culture, such as pathological specimens and hospice photography, can simultaneously represent the dying body as a site of loss and a locus of meaning-making.

Authors:
So Yin Tam, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
So Yin Dilys Tam is reading for a Master of Studies in the History of Art and Visual Culture at the University of Oxford. She will commence her PhD studies at The University of Chicago in the Fall, focusing on the nexus of art history and law.

Connect on Linkedin
https://hk.linkedin.com/in/dilys-tam-212193181

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