6 May 2021 - 7 May 2021 | All day | ONLINE |
- Description
- Programme
- Call for Papers
Description
Sign up to the CRASSH Newsletter for more information and updates on this conference.
Convenors
Ana Howie (Faculty of History)
Alessandro Nicola Malusà (Faculty of History)
Featured Keynote Speaker
Erin Griffey (University of Auckland)
Key Note Speaker
Karen Hearn (UCL)
Katarzyna Kosior (Northumbria University)
Mei Mei Rado (LACMA)
Catherine Stearn (Kentucky University)
Cordula van Wyhe (York University)
Speakers
Alice Blow (University of Cambridge)
Vanessa de Cruz Medina (Independent Scholar, former Prado Museum & Villa I Tatti Fellow)
Sarah Emily Farkas (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Marina Hopkins (Warburg Institute)
Jessica Hower (Southwestern University)
Anna Lisa Nicholson (University of Cambridge)
Lisa Nunn (East Anglia)
Alejandro M. Sanz Guillén (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Pedro Manuel Tavares (Centro de História de Arte — CHAIA)
Martina Vyskupova (Slovak National Museum)
Chairs
Holly Fletcher (University of Sussex)
Alexander Marr (University of Cambridge)
Sophie Pitman (Aalto University)
Giorgio Riello (European University Institute)
Ulinka Rublack (University of Cambridge)
Caroline van Eck (University of Cambridge)
Summary
As Ulinka Rublack asserts in Dressing Up, her seminal book on dress in early modern Europe, society was extremely dress-literate and nowhere more so than in the courtly environments that generated and fuelled fashion. Within these sartorially-minded elite communities, one was constantly on display. Capturing dressed sitters in paint for prosperity, portraiture was a unique vehicle for the inherent dialectic in clothing between subject and observer, and presentation and perception. As such, this conference will examine three themes surrounding early modern portraiture: the artist, the depicted material culture and the setting for its iconographic display, that is the court. We aim to examine these connections via the prism of the period’s intricate social stratification and complex gender power dynamics. To provide sufficient breadth, the conference will present papers dealing with material between 1500 and 1800.
The first panel, titled ‘The Artist Behind the Portrait’, will concentrate on the multi-faceted figure of the early modern portraitist, and his or her role in the fashioning and imaging of courtly identities. This panel will bring attention to the varied interactions between artist and commissioner, taking into account their differing social status, education and motivations.
The second panel, ‘The Material Attributes of Early Modern Portraiture’ will zoom in on the compositional elements of court portraiture to unravel the sartorial and symbolic interplay within the portraitists’ œuvre.
Our final panel, entitled ‘The Court: A Stage for the Display of Portraiture’ will highlight the pivotal role of the early modern court as an elaborate crossroad of social synergies obsessed with self-representation and its modes of display. This panel is designed to tease out the subtle nuances of social relations between artist, sitter, and viewer, and the affective spaces within which these players operated.
Considering the interdisciplinary nature of our project, spanning history, dress studies, art theory, gender history, court studies and architectural history, we believe that our conference will generate exciting contributions from leading international scholars. This conference will meaningfully contribute to the wider scholarly debate on the significance of early modern portraiture as pivotal sources for numerous branches of historical research and not just art history. Our conference will both firmly enable this discussion and bring attention to this burgeoning field of interdisciplinary historical studies.
Supported by:
If you have any specific accessibility needs for this event please get in touch. We will do our best to accommodate any requests.
Conference assistance: events@crassh.cam.ac.uk
Programme
13.00-13.20 (BST) | Welcome and Opening Remarks |
13.20-14.30 (BST) | Panel 1: Materialising Courtly Bodies |
Panel Keynote Karen Hearn (UCL) Title: Richly apparelled, and her belly laid out …’: Signalling (or not Signalling) Pregnancy in 16th and Early 17th Century Court Portraits |
|
Ana Howie (University of Cambridge) Lisa Nunn (East Anglia) Chair: Holly Fletcher (University of Sussex) |
|
14.30-14.50 (BST) | Panel 1: Q&A |
14.50-15.00 (BST) | Break |
15.00-16.10 (BST) | Panel 2: Negotiating Gender in Early Modern Portraiture |
Panel Keynote Catherine Stearn (Kentucky University) |
|
Vanessa de Cruz Medina (Independent Scholar, former Prado Museum & Villa I Tatti Fellow) Alice Blow (University of Cambridge) Chair: Sophie Pitman (Aalto University) |
|
16.10-16.30 (BST) | Panel 2: Q&A |
16.30-16.40 (BST) | Break |
16.40-18.10 (BST) | Panel 3: The Court Portrait: Global Considerations |
Panel Keynote Mei Mei Rado (LACMA) |
|
Jessica Hower (Southwestern University)
Marina Hopkins (Warburg Institute) Alejandro M. Sanz Guillén (Universidad de Zaragoza)
Chair: Giorgio Riello (European University Institute) |
|
18.10-18.30 (BST) | Panel 3: Q&A |
13.10-15.00 (BST) | Panel 4: The Court: A Stage for Princely Society |
Panel Keynote Katarzyna Kosior (Northumbria University) |
|
Martina Vyskupova (Slovak National Museum) Pedro Manuel Tavares (Centro de História de Arte — CHAIA) Anna Lisa Nicholson (University of Cambridge) Chair: Caroline van Eck |
|
15.00-15.20 (BST) | Panel 4: Q&A |
15.20-15.30 (BST) | Break |
15.30-16.40 (BST) | Panel 5: The Artist Behind the Portrait |
Panel Keynote Cordula van Wyhe (York University) |
|
Sarah Emily Farkas (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) Alessandro Nicola Malusà (University of Cambridge) Chair: Alexander Marr (University of Cambridge) |
|
16.40-17.00 (BST) | Panel 5: Q&A |
17.00-17.30 (BST) | Break |
17.30-18.10 (BST) | Featured Keynote Erin Griffey (The University of Auckland) Chair: Ulinka Rublack (University of Cambridge) |
18.10-18.30 (BST) | Featured Keynote Q&A |
Final Remarks and Thanks |
Call for Papers
Call for Papers
This conference will examine three themes surrounding early modern portraiture: the artist, the depicted material culture and the setting for its iconographic display, that is the court. We aim to examine these connections via the prism of the period’s intricate social stratification and complex gender power dynamics. To provide sufficient breadth, we intend to accept papers whose scope will fall between 1500 and 1800. We foresee the conference to last one day, with three panels of three speakers each. Each panel will comprise one keynote paper from an established scholar, followed by two papers from early career researchers or doctoral candidates.
Submitted papers would ideally examine:
- The multi-faceted figure of the early modern court portraitist within courts across Europe, focusing in particular on his or her role in the fashioning and imaging of courtly identities
- The compositional elements of court portraits and their sartorial and symbolic interplay
- The pivotal role of the early modern court as an elaborate crossroad of social synergies obsessed with self-representation and its modes of display
Those interested in delivering a paper are invited to submit a 300-word proposal accompanied with a biographical note to: Ana Howie (ach207@cam.ac.uk) & Alessandro Nicola Malusà (anm43@cam.ac.uk) by 4th January 2021. Graduate students, junior scholars, curators, early career researchers and conservators are warmly encouraged to apply.