Conference Illuminare: call for papers

In 2010, Illuminare - Centre for the Study of Medieval Art (KU Leuven) acquired the archive of the eminent Belgian art historian professor Jan Karel Steppe (1918-2009). Steppe is internationally renowned for his groundbreaking research on the influx of Netherlandish art and luxury goods in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Spain. By springtime 2016, his documentation will be archived and the inventory made accessible online. To celebrate this accomplishment, Illuminare is organizing an international conference on Steppe's long-term and much loved research topic.

This conference will focus on a large variety of media, ranging from painting and tapestry to broadcloth and astrolabes. Special attention will be paid to the driving forces behind this export-driven market, such as artists, patrons, collectors and merchants. By taking into account cultural, religious, political and socio-economic dynamics, this conference aims to shed new light on the multifaceted artistic impact of the Low Countries on the Iberian Peninsula in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

We welcome 20-minute papers by established and early career scholars that revisit or expand Steppe's topics of research and, equally important, enhance these with recent methodologies and theoretical frameworks. The official language of the conference is English, although papers in French might be taken into consideration. Proposals of no more than 300 words and a brief CV should be submitted to drs. Robrecht Janssen (robrecht.janssen@arts.kuleuven.be) and drs. Daan van Heesch (daan.vanheesch@arts.kuleuven.be) by the 1st of October 2015. Speakers will be invited to submit their papers for a peer-reviewed publication on the topic.

Scientific committee

Barbara Baert (KU Leuven), Krista de Jonge (KU Leuven), Bart Fransen (KIK-IRPA, Brussels), Robrecht Janssen (KU Leuven / KIK-IRPA, Brussels), Maximiliaan Martens (Ghent University), Werner Thomas (KU Leuven), Paul Vandenbroeck (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp / KU Leuven), Jan Van der Stock (KU Leuven), Daan van Heesch (KU Leuven), Koenraad Van Cleempoel (Hasselt University), Annelies Vogels (KU Leuven), Lieve Watteeuw (KU Leuven)

Conference 'Netherlandish Art and Luxury Goods in Renaissance Spain. Trade, Patronage and Consumption'
4 - 6 February 2016
KU Leuven, Belgium

Call for papers PDF 

(News item August 25, 2015)