Cross-Media Perspectives. Technical Studies of Art on Panel, Paper and Parchment (1400-1600).
The international and interdisciplinary ‘XXIII Symposium for the Study of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting'.

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.
After the successful Van Eyck Studies (2012), Imaging Utopia (2017), Bruegel Success Story (2018), and Alla Maniera (2021) symposia, the 23rd Symposium of Underdrawing and Technology in Painting will be held in Leuven and Brussels 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.

Abstract submission deadline: Thursday 1 June 2023.
Response: 3 July 2023

Website: https://technicalartstudies2024leuven.be/
Contact: technicalartstudieskuleuven.be

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.

Symposium Committee: Lieve Watteeuw, Illuminare & VIEW, KU Leuven; Daan van Heesch, Prints and Drawings, KBR; Marjan Debaene, Museum M; Barbara Baert, Faculty of Arts, Illuminare, KU Leuven; Jan Van der Stock, Faculty of Arts, Illuminare, KU Leuven; Julie Beckers, Illuminare, KU Leuven; Maarten Bassens, KU Leuven, Anne Dubois, UCL; Christina Currie, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage; Bart Franssen, Centre for the Study of the Flemish Primitives, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage; Anne Van Oosterwijk, Musea Brugge; Guenevere Souffreau, Musea Brugge; Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage; Bruno Vandermeulen, VIEW, KU Leuven.

The working language of the symposium is English.
The lectures will be published in the proceedings in the Series Underdrawing and Technology in Painting (Peeters Publishers).