The international conference "Rethinking Layard 1817-2017" proposes to reconsider the significant role that Austen Henry Layard had in nineteenth-century Europe, on the occasion of the recent bicentenary from his birth.

By surveying his multifaceted activities concerning politics, diplomacy, public museum's administration, glass manufactory, and music, the initiative seeks to reposition Layard within his shifting frame of reference. In this sense, the contemporary dimension of the London and Venetian cultural scene is brought to the fore.
 
The conference has been organised by Dr Stefania Ermidoro and Dr Cecilia Riva, with the joint support of the International Doctorate in History of Arts of Ca' Foscari University Venice and the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.


PROGRAMME

Monday, March 5

Layard's Archaeological Enterprises
Chair: Lucio Milano, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

9.30 - 10.00
Welcome and introduction

10.00 - 10.40
Layard of Nineveh and the tablets of Nineveh
Andrew R. George, SOAS University of London

10.40 - 11.20
Austen Henry Layard and Archibald Henry Sayce: An Anatolian Perspective
Silvia Alaura, ISMA, CNR, Roma (GRISSO project)

Coffee and tea break

11.40 - 12.20  
Layard's relationship with F.C. Cooper and his other artists
John Curtis, Iran Heritage Foundation, London

12.20 - 13.00
Henry Layard, Nimrud's first archaeologist and his ivories
Georgina Herrmann, University College, London

13.00-13.15
question time

Lunch break


New evidence on the Layards
Chair: Jaynie Anderson, University of Melbourne

15.00 - 15.40
A Family Treasure: the Layard Collection at the Newcastle University
Stefania Ermidoro, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (GRISSO project)

15.40 - 16.20
La promozione del vetro di Murano: Austen Henry Layard e Lady Enid Layard
Rosa Barovier Mentasti, Independent scholar

Coffee and tea break

16.40 - 17.20
Sulle tracce di un'élite sovranazionale a Venezia. L'album di autografi di Lady Layard (1881-1912)
Henrike Rost, Universität Paderborn

17.20-17.30
question time


Tuesday, March 6

Politics, diplomacy and art
Chair: Emanuele Pellegrini, IMT Lucca

9.30 - 10.10     
Henry Layard's attempt to storm mid-Victorian British politics: successes and failures
Jonathan Parry, Pembroke College, University of Cambridge

10.10-10.50   
Rawdon Brown "Anglus" (1806-1883)
Maria S. Florio, Independent Scholar

Coffee and tea break

11.10 - 11.50  
Layard, Saleh e Miner Kellogg
F. Mario Fales, Università degli Studi di Udine

11.50 - 12.30  
Austen Henry Layard and his "unruly passion" for art
Cecilia Riva, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia

12.30 - 13.00 Final discussion