Two-Day International Conference on Rubens and the Human Body,
University of York, 17-18 September 2010.

Rubens' fleshy and voluptuous female nudes and energetic male figures
are generally regarded as embodying the 'Baroque', a common, yet
controversial term designating the predominant artistic trends and ideas
of the seventeenth century. Yet, the Rubensian body has suffered
remarkable scholarly neglect and only a limited number of publications
on selected aspects are available. This conference aims to address the
lack of a systematic and comparative study of the Rubensian nude by
bringing together leading scholars for the discussion of recent and
novel research into this topic. By working across academic disciplines
(namely history art, medicine, philosophy and literature) and technical
media such as oil painting, sketches, book and medical illustrations
etc. the conference does not only aim to generate new cross-referential
readings of individual works, but also to raise more fundamental,
methodological reflections about how the visual aspects of the Rubensian
nude can be properly understood, researched and discussed in relation to
other kinds of source material.

For more information, please visit the website at:
http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/histart/rubens/