In preparation for Symposium XXIII for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting, the organizers are inviting papers on the theme: ‘Cross-Media Perspectives. Technical Studies of Art on Panel, Paper and Parchment (1400-1600).’

After the successful Van Eyck Studies (2012), Imaging Utopia (2017), Bruegel Success Story (2018), and Alla Maniera (2021) symposia, the 23rd Symposium for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting will be held in Leuven and Brussels on 11, 12 and 13 January 2024 and will coincide with the exhibition Dieric Bouts. Creator of Images in Museum M. The conference aims to stimulate networking and provides a unique opportunity for professionals to share knowledge and experience on important cases. It also provides a forum for the discussion of innovative developments in tools and methodologies for the study of artworks.

The XXIII Symposium will provide a scientific forum for the presentation of new technical studies in art history, concentrating on art from the Middle Ages and Early Modern period (1400-1600). The conference will focus on the technical examination of art in a variety of media and supports: panel paintings, painting on parchment and canvas, drawings, cartoons, sketches, model- and sketchbooks, prints and manuscript illuminations. The main theme will be cross-media perspectives in the context of artistic materials, working methods, and the dissemination of concepts. Similarities in design might indicate cultural, social, geographical, or chronological connections in paintings, drawings, prints etc. as well as links across other artistic media. Recent developments in viewing platforms, artificial intelligence and machine learning can offer alternative possibilities in this research field, stimulate contacts and the exchange of experience, and form a bridge between art and science.

Topics

• Art technical studies in the context of the research and the conservation of paintings by Dieric Bouts and contemporaries.
• Studies on the technical examination of art on different supports: on wood, paper and parchment broadly created between 1400-1600.
• Studies on technical examination of illuminated manuscripts or manuscript illustrated with drawings.
• Studies of underdrawings, sketches, cartoons, model books and illuminated manuscripts to transfer concepts from one to another medium.
• Case studies on the identification of materials employing innovative imaging and analytical methods.
• New tools, methodologies and viewing platforms to disseminate visual and analytical data for technical art history.
• Innovative uses of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the field of connoisseurship.

The abstract submission deadline is 1 June 2023. See the symposium website for more information.