Isabella Di Lenardo
Domaines de compétences
Biography
Isabella di Lenardo is a scientific researcher and lecturer with experience in the fields of Art History and Archaeology, Digital Humanities, and Digital Urban History.She is the coordinator of the EPFL Time Machine Unit at Digital Humanities Institute.
Her training began with archaeology and then moved to Modern Art History, particularly the Venetian context between 1400 and 1800. Her interest primarily lies in the European circulation of artworks and figurative patterns between 1500 and 1650.
She holds a Ph.D in Theories and Art History. Her doctoral dissertation in 2013 provided insightful analysis into the artistic, social, and economic forces driving the trade and circulation of art between key Italian centers and the Flemish cultural area.
Since 2012 she conducted studies on urban history applying digital methodologies, particularly geographic information systems, collaborating on pioneering projects in this field such as Visualizing Venice held by the University Institute of Architecture in Venice, the University of Padua, and Duke University.
In 2014 she joined the Digital Humanities Laboratory at EPFL as a scientific collaborator. She was involved in several projects on urban reconstruction and visual analysis of artworks. She led the Replica project in collaboration with the Giorgio Cini Foundation in Venice, which involved digitizing the historical photo library and creating a search engine for visual similarity and visual genealogy between images. In this context she coordinated teams of researchers, students, professionals and curators to carry the project.
Between 2018 and 2020, she was a post doc at INHA in Paris holding the role of Principal Investigator National Institute of Art History in Paris initiating and leading the "Richelieu District" urban reconstruction project.
She is Co.PI in the project, SNFS, Parcels of Venice aimed at reconstructing the informational and morphological evolution of urban property in Venice between 1700 and 1808. In this project, thousands of land records were extracted and analyzed to allow for the densification of information related to the owners and functions of the urban before and after the fall of the Ancien Regime in Venice. An exploration and research interface is planned between 2024 and 2025.
Starting in 2016, she was among the initiators of the Time Machine: Big Data of the Past for the Future of Europe project. The aim of the project was that Time Machine design and implement advanced new digitization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to mine Europe's vast cultural heritage, providing fair and free access to information that will support future scientific and technological developments in Europe. From the European Time Machine project originated the Time Machine Organization in which Isabella di Lenardo is coordinator of Local Time Machines on a European scale.
Over the years she has coordinated research teams with diverse profiles: researchers, scholars, public institutions, private foundations, and companies. She is very comfortable in international and interdisciplinary working environments, and regularly acts as an intermediary between computer scientists, humanities scholars, engineers, and representatives of cultural institutions.
She has been teaching ex cathedra courses in Urban History since 2010, at EPFL since 2014 in Digital Urban History and also Digital Art History at other universities on an international scale.
Parcours professionnel
Project Leader, Post Doc
Institut National d’Histoire de l’art de Paris
2018-2020
Post Doc. Researcher
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Digital Humanities Laboratory
2014-2018
Faculty
VIU Venice International University (Venice)
2013-2018
Post Doc. Researcher
IUAV Istituto Universitario d'Architettura (Venice)
2013-2014
Lecturer
IUAV Istituto Universitario d'Architettura (Venice)
2010-2013
Formation
Ph.D
Theories and History of Arts “Honourable mention / Prize of department”
SSAV Scuola Superiore di Studi avanzati in Venezia (Venice) || IUAV Istituto Universitario di Architettura (Venice) || University Ca’ Foscari, scuola interateneo in Storia delle Arti (Venice)
2009 2013
MA
Letters and Philosophy, specialization in Art History and Archeology
University Ca’ Foscari (Venice)
2008
Fellow
Nederlands Interuniversitair Kunsthistorisch Instituut (NIKI)(Florence)
2010-2011
Publications
Sélection de publications
Autres publications
Conferences
2021-04 SPEAKER “Large Scale Visual Pattern Search. New Perspectives on Renaissance Artwork motives circulation”, Renaissance Society of America Conference, Dublin 2021 (online - Covid format compatible)
2021-05 INVITED SPEAKER Metodi e AI per estrarre e esplorare informazioni in large historical corpora” - “Methods and AI for extracting and mining data information in large historical corpora” , Università Bocconi (Milano) on line seminar for faculty members (online - Covid format compatible)
2021-05 INVITED SPEAKER “Lausanne Time Machine”, Réunion annuel de l’Association vaudoise des archivistes (online - Covid format compatible)
2020-11 SPEAKER “Paintings by AI. Large Scale search for Visual Similarities” , in La mesure des images : approches computationnelles en histoire et théorie des arts, DHNord 2020 (on line)
2019-12 INVITED SPEAKER “Chercher dans les grands corpus d’images à travers l’Intelligence Artificielle : défis et résultats” in Association des diplômés et des étudiants de master de l’École nationale des chartes (Ademec), « Intelligence artificielle et institutions patrimoniales : enjeux, défis et opportunités », École nationale des Chartes et Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 2019
2019-10 SPEAKER “Repeupler le Quartier Richelieu (1839-1922)”, Semaine académique de l’Université de WUDA et École nationale des Chartes, Paris 2019
2019-10 SPEAKER “Les Musées dans l’ère des répliques authentiques et des Mondes Miroirs”, in Faut-il vider les Bibliotheques et les Musées?, Académie royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique avec le parrainage du Collège de France, (with Frèdéric Kaplan) Bruxelles 2019
2019 -10 SPEAKER “Lausanne Time Machine”, presentation for the launch of the Center in Digital Humanities EPFL and UNIL, Lausanne 2019
2019-07 SPEAKER “Repopulating Paris: massive extraction of 4 Million addresses from city directories between 1839 and 1922”, (with Albane Descombes) Digital Humanities Conference 2019, Utrecht
2019-07 SPEAKER “A Deep Learning Approach to cadastral computing” , (with Sophia Ares Oliveira) Digital Humanities Conference 2019, Utrecht
2019-06 SPEAKER “Repopulating Paris. 4 Million of addresses (1839-1922)”, Symposium in collaboration with Getty Research Institute L.A., Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, Paris
2019-05 SPEAKER “Repeupler Paris. 4 millions d’adresses des Almanach-Bottins du commerce”, Atelier Corpus, Bibliothèque national de France
2019-04 INVITED SPEAKER “Venice Time Machine Project, Modelling the Past”, (with Frédéric Kaplan) Journées de la recherche de l'IGN (Institut National de l’Information Geographique et Forestière), Cité Descartes, Marne la Vallée – Paris
2019 -01 INVITED SPEAKER “The Venice Time Machine Project: Digitising Heritage in Time and Space” (with Frédéric Kaplan), Warburg Institute - London, 2019
2018-10 SPEAKER and CHAIR “Time Machine Conference”, EPFL - Lausanne 2018
2018-10 SPEAKER “Richelieu. Histoire du quartier”, Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA) – Paris
2018-09 SPEAKER “The Digital Cadastre of Venice in 1808”, (with Bastien Tourenc), EAUH European Association of Urban History– Rome 2018
2017-11 INVITED SPEAKER “Le project Time Machine Européenne" Bibliothèque Nationale de France – Atelier Corpus Data BNF – Paris 2017
2017-05 INVITED SPEAKER “The Venice Time Machine Project”, German Center for Art History - Paris 2017
2017-06 INVITED SPEAKER “Web interfaces for 4D Urban Model”, (with Frédéric Kaplan) IGN (Institut National de l’Information Geographique et Forestière) – Paris 2017
2017 -03 SPEAKER “Optimized scripting in Massive Open Online Courses” (with Frédéric Kaplan) Dariah Teach, Université de Lausanne - Lausanne 2017
2017-04 INVITED SPEAKER “ The Venice Time Machine” (with Frédéric Kaplan) European Union and members of the European Archives Group in Malta (EBNA Meeting) – Malta 2017
2016-10 INVITED SPEAKER “European circulation of people, goods and patterns: The Venice Time Machine methodology” (with Frédéric Kaplan) CREATE, An e-humanities perspective – Amsterdam 2016
2016 -03 SESSION ORGANIZER “Images on the Move: The Weaving of Circulations and Transfers during the Renaissance through Digital Analysis”, in RSA : Renaissance Society of America – Boston 2016
2016 -03, SPEAKER “Mapping the Flow of Paintings in the Renaissance” in RSA : Renaissance Society of America – Boston 2016
2015 -09 CHAIR OF SESSION “Le porte dopo le porte. Varchi, barriere, caselli daziari: le chiavi dell'accesso e dell'approvvigionamento urbano”, in AISU Associazione Italiana di Storia Urbana – Padova 2015
2015 -06 SPEAKER “Venice Time Machine: Recreating the density of the past” (with Frédéric Kaplan) Annual conference of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations – Sydney 2015
2015-03 SPEAKER “La numérisation massive des œuvres d’art et ses conséquences sur l’histoire de l’art : REPLICA project” in Cloud Collections. Aspects juridiques, scientifiques et techniques de la numérisation de l’art , Neuchâtel 2015
2014-03 SPEAKER “Trading knowledge across Europe: database analysis networks (1550-1650)” in Annual meeting conference of Renaissance Society of America (RSA) – Berlin 2014
2013-09 CHAIR OF SESSION “The ephemeral city : invention, rhetoric and counterfeiting (XV-XVIII centuries)” in AISU (Associazione italiana storia urbana) Visibile invisibile, percepire la città tra descrizioni e omissioni – Catania 2013
2013-06 SPEAKER “Built cities, Designed cities, Virtual cities : The museum of the city.” Politecnico di Torino for « Can the European cities be considered as a Cultural Heritage ? Per una storia della città europea come Cultural Heritage » – Turin 2013
2012-12 SPEAKER “Patron, Collector and Agent: On Carlo Helman and his Network Role in the Production, Circulation and Consumption of Pictures between Antwerp and Venice, ca. 1600” in Symposium at Kasteel Well (Nederland), for the Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek: Artists on the Move: Migrating artists from the Low Countries, 1400-1750, Well-Limbourg (ND)
2012 -03 SPEAKER “Dalla scala urbana all’allestimento : l’insula delle Gallerie dell’Accademia” Politecnico di Torino; convegno “Digital Urban History – La storia della città (raccontata) all’epoca della rivoluzione informatica”, Turin 2012
2011-11 SPEAKER “L’oratorio dei tedeschi. Artisti oltramontani nella chiesa di San Bartolomeo” and curator of the conference La chiesa di San Bartolomeo e la comunità tedesca, Studium Generale Marcianum; Centro Tedesco di Studi Veneziani (Deutsche Studienzentrum in Venedig) – Venice
2011-09 SPEAKER “Mercanti, collezionisti, agenti. Il ruolo delle nationi fiamenga e todesca nella nascita e diffusione dei Generi pittorici” International conference for Foundation Ermitage Italia (FEI): Alle origini dei Generi Pittorici fra l’Italiae l’Europa attorno al 1600 – Ferrara
2011-09 SPEAKER “Cities of Fire”. Iconography, Fortune and the Circulation of Fire Paintings in Flanders and Italy in the XVI Century”. V Convegno AISU, Fuori dall’ordinario: la città di fronte a catastrofi ed eventi eccezionali, Rome
2011-06 SPEAKER “Firenze e Venezia, convergenze: il network nederlandese e i rapporti con il collezionismo mediceo” Lesson for the Istituto Universitario Olandese di Storia dell’Arte di Firenze/ Nederlands Inter Universitair Kunst Historisch Instituut – Florence 2011
2010-09 SPEAKER “The Oltramontani Network in Venice: Hans von Aachen in context” Conference to the Institute of Art History, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic: Hans von Aachen and new research in the transfer of artistic ideas into Central Europe –,Prague 2010
2010-04 SPEAKER “Exploring the Natione fiamenga in Venice. The influence of this newly created Establishment and its impact on pictorial exchanges: The Bassano case.” Annual meeting conference of Renaissance Society of America (RSA) – Venice 2010
Recherche
Parcels of Venice
FNS GRANT_NUMBER: 185060During the research activities on 2D and 3D modeling for the Venice Time Machine project, a specific analysis was developed on the georeferencing and feature extraction of the city's Napoleonic cadastre (1808). In 2018, an SNSF project entitled Parcels of Venice was successfully submitted to further the extraction and analysis of cadastral sources. The grant began in May 2019. The project aims to be one of the first attempts to address the density and richness of primary and secondary sources on Venice in the 19th and 18th centuries, trying to overcome their intrinsically fragmented nature to offer an integrated model of the city and its morphological evolution.
Enseignement & Phd
Enseignement
Architecture
Humanities and Social Sciences Program
Doctorants
Guhennec Paul Robert, Petitpierre Rémi Guillaume, Vaienti Beatrice,A dirigé les thèses EPFL de
Seguin Benoît Laurent Auguste ,Histoire Urbaine Digitale
The Digital Urban History course is part of a new range of interdisciplinary and collaborative courses open to UNIL and EPFL students.This course aims to develop interdisciplinary skills by combining the fields of expertise of history and digital studies.
It mainly focuses on theoretical and practical learning of digital methods applied to the analysis of past cities.
The course explores the digitization of historical cartography and information modeling of historical data concerning the city.
The use and extraction of cadastral, demographic, and iconographic sources but also various sources that tell the story from other perspectives such as historical press, trade almanacs, and more. The course has a theoretical part in which various case studies are analyzed across Europe.
Students work on data extracted from ongoing urban analysis projects.
Since 2020 they develop projects on Lausanne and the surrounding area. The site is analyzed in its evolution over time under multiple aspects: the morphological evolution of the city, population history, cultural heritage history, aspects related to uninhabited space and ecology, textual sources such as the press or some literary sources. All the projects are published online.
Digital Humanities
The Digital Humanities course provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation in digital humanities while also offering a hands-on approach to digital prosopography.Students will learn to transform biographical narratives, traced across time and space, into digital data. The primary objective is for participants to create wiki-based sources by piecing together biographical profiles of individuals who, though mentioned in historical records like newspapers, lack an online presence. The curriculum covers essential skills such as wiki syntax, person identification, Ngram analysis, and digital cartography. Through this course, students will uncover the 'dark matter' of history—those personalities referenced in historical documents but absent from the digital realm. This exploration emphasizes the importance of digitizing historical data, a key process for expanding and refining our collective understanding of history.