Speaking Brushes: Art Practice and Deaf Education in Early Modern Italy

The paper investigates interconnections between art practice and deaf education in early modern Italy by looking at the careers of three prelingually deaf painters: Ercole Sarti from Ferrara, Filippo Ceppaluni from Naples, and Giuseppe Badaracco from Genoa. Born into different economic backgrounds, they developed successful careers, participating in the artistic and social life of their respective cities. By looking at a variety of sources including works of art, archival records, sixteenth- and seventeenth-century biographical accounts and renaissance poetry, the paper interrogates their pictorial education, their career choices, and their approach towards the painting profession. It argues that art practice provided a viable career option for prelingually deaf people and highlights the crucial and neglected role played by visual culture in the history of deaf education alongside Girolamo Cardano’s pioneering writings and the teachings of Pedro Ponce de Leon.