Romanticism and the Peripheries
An International and Interdisciplinary Conference

"The Romantic phenomenon seems to defy analysis, not only because its exuberant diversity resists any attempt to reduce it to a common denominator but also and especially because of its fabulously contradictory character" (Michael Löwy and Robert Sayre, Romanticism against the Tide of Modernity, trans. by Catherine Porter, Durham/London: Duke University Press, 2001). In an attempt to accommodate both its diversity and contradictory character, Löwy and Sayre defined Romanticism as "a worldview constituted as a specific form of criticism of ‘modernity'" and expanded the term beyond artistic and literary phenomena to encompass a wide range of fields such as religion, political theory, philosophy, etc. Even though Löwy and Sayre may offer a guiding principle outside the interpretative confusion often generated by the term, their analysis is still mostly, if not exclusively, concerned with the definition of the phenomenon as it manifested in the principal centers of Europe (namely England, France, and Germany).

This 3-day conference, organized on the occasion of the bicentenary of Fernando II's birth, the Portuguese king responsible for the edification of what is widely considered the hallmark of Romantic Portuguese architecture, seeks to focus on Romanticism in the peripheries, both European and non-European, and explore the validity of the concept for the analysis of artistic and cultural forms that, for the most part, originated outside the centers of bourgeois industrial civilization. Taking as its starting point the definition proposed by Löwy and Sayre, the conference invites participations on a number of issues including, but not limited to:

1. When Was Romanticism? Attempts at Periodization and Definition.
2. Sublime matters: Romanticism and Material Culture.
3. Transfers and Cross-Sections: Literature, Theater and the Visual Arts.
4. The Romantic Traveler: Drawings, Prints and Souvenirs.
5. Artistic Education. Academy versus Nature?
6. Romantic Landscape, Gardens and Architecture.
7. Romantic Nationalism – Romantic Imperialism? The Politics of Style.


Abstracts (of no more than 300 words), accompanied by a short bio (appr. two paragraphs) should be sent to the members of the organizing committee, at iha.romanticism2016gmail.com by July 30, 2016. Participants will be notified by the end of August, and the conference program will be published in mid-September. The languages of the conference are English and Portuguese.

A selection of papers from the conference will be published as a special number of the Revista de História da Arte, an annual peer-reviewed journal, and a second publication, in the form of a book, is also being contemplated by the organizers.

For all questions regarding administration and practical matters, as well as the payment of the conference inscription, please contact Mariana Gonçalves (iha.divulgacaofcsh.unl.pt).

Conference inscription:
50,00 euros – Speakers
40,00 euros – Participants
20,00 euros – Students


The conference is organized jointly by the Instituto de História da Arte, the Instituto de História Contemporânea (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa) and the Palácio Nacional da Pena (Parques de Sintra).

Organizing committee:
Raquel Henriques da Silva (Instituto de História da Arte, FCSH/NOVA)
António Nunes Pereira (Palácio Nacional da Pena, Parques de Sintra)
Foteini Vlachou (Instituto de História Contemporânea, FCSH/NOVA)

Scientific committee:
Javier Barón (Museo Nacional del Prado)
France Nerlich (Université François-Rabelais Tours)
Bénédicte Savoy (Technische Universität Berlin)

Executive committee:
Mariana Gonçalves