CFP: Evidence of Power in the Ruler Portrait, 14th – 18th
Cent. (1-2 Dec 17), Munich / München, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, 01. – 02.12.2017
Deadline: Apr 30, 2017
Applications for a lecture with an abstract of max. 3,000 characters
can be sent until April 30 2017 to the following address
Email: mattmuel@uni-mainz.de
Head and Body: Evidence of Power in the Ruler Portrait Between the 14th
and 18th Centuries
Kopf und Körper: Evidenzen der Macht im Herrscherporträt des 14.-18
Jahrhunderts
What meanings do head and body convey in the medieval and early modern
ruler portrait? How do its mimetic schemes and visual projections of
power relate to each other? How are conceptually abstract norms and
values of rulership transposed to categories of looking, how do images
of bodies concretize these norms and values, and what modes of
representation do they cultivate? Research on the history of portraits
has relegated these questions to the margins; we presently lack a
systematic analysis. Nevertheless, head and body forged central
attributes and categories for physical manifestations of rulership in
the Middle Ages and early modern period. The specific conditions of
their visual portrayal is therefore of particular interest. Unlike in
republican or democratic political systems, where the presence and
legitimation of ruling power is supported by an elected government or a
constitution, in principalities and monarchies the prince or king
himself guaranteed the legitimacy of his own rule. He did this above
all else through his physical body, whose visually and haptically
experienced presence first lent the necessary evidence for his
sovereignty.
The conference should comprehensively thematize the different
normative, material, medial, functional, and aesthetic aspects of the
corporeal and material presence of rulership in painted and printed
ruler portraits from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
Scientific Management:
Prof. Dr. Matthias Müller (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
Prof. Dr. Ulrich Pfisterer (Ludwig Maximilians-Universität München),
Dr. Elke Anna Werner (Freie Universität Berlin)
This theme for this year’s Romanesque conference at Cuxa (l
Speakers: Richard Sharpe, Kathryn Dutton, Els de Paermentier, Nicolas Ruffini-Ronzani, Sverre Bagge, Sébastien Barret, Alheydis Plassmann, Alice Taylor, Marie Therese Flanagan, Matthew Hammond, John Reuben Davies, László Veszprémy, Jessica Berenbeim, Fernando Arias Guillén, Dauvit Broun
The British Archaeological Association will hold the fifth in its series of biennial International Romanesque conferences in association with the Centre d’Etudes Supérieures de Civilisation Médiévale in Poitiers on 4-6 April, 2018.
This conference is hosted by The Medieval Parish Churches of Norwich Research Project (undertaken at the University of East Anglia and funded by The Leverhulme Trust). All 58 churches, whether existing, ruined or lost, are included in the scope of the project, which seeks insight into how the medieval city developed topographically, architecturally and socially. The Project is intended to reveal the interdependent relationship between city, community and architecture showing how people and places shaped each other during the middle ages. The conference (supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art and Purcell) will present the medieval parish churches of Norwich in their immediate local context and in the broader framework of urban churches in Britain and northern Europe. The subject range will include documentary history, the architectural fabric of the buildings themselves and their place in the topography of Norwich, the development of the churches’ architecture and furnishings, the representation of the churches and their post-Reformation history.
Collecting Ancient and Medieval art attracts both academic and public curiosity because the objects (and structures) in question are not only often extremely rare, but also have fascinating histories. The ability to possess a piece of our past has allowed collectors throughout the centuries to create a continuity between that past and their present. This conference will explore the history of Ancient, Byzantine and Medieval collections, how they were originally formed, how objects survive and in what contexts, and how certain collections themselves live on. It will also address how the collections of the past may be reflected in the way that we approach collecting today, the theoretical and the historical framework of collections, how they are currently presented, as well as some of the controversies in the field. Equally, the problems and issues underlying the collecting of Ancient and Medieval art, and the knowledge required to authenticate them will be discussed. Speakers include: Maeve O’Donnell-Morales, Zoe Opacic, Emily Guerry, Amy Smith, Peter Toth, Amy Jeffs, Anna Kelley, Michael Carter, Naomi Speakman, and Claudio Corsi.
Important Update
Medieval Art Research 