Itinerant Symposium "Medicine, Beauty and the Body: Materials, Texts and Artifacts".

Historical beauty cultures typically favoured natural beauty, and the depiction of flawless and well-coloured skin (well-balanced between pale and rosy). This was more than a mere topical feature of beauty. Rather, it gave proof of personal constitution, complexion, and character – that is, the nature of a person as a whole. Also, beauty was a deeply political matter, because physical integrity and excellent physical condition attested both to the sovereign’s ruling skills and his or her fertile capacities. The field is closely related to hygiene and health, including a whole range of historical medical practices as well as scientific understanding ranging from natural philosophy and natural history to practices of physical activities, self-care and cosmetics, artisanal practice and experiments, but also pleasure and fun. Beauty cultures have a remarkable history as the knowledge and materials involved (techniques, texts, and artefacts) were circulated, and transformed through time and space.

This itinerant symposium brings together experts working on beauty cultures from antiquity to the early modern period for the very first time. Based on a selection of beauty recipes, it will follow their transmission from antiquity to the Middle Ages to the early modern period, thereby looking for the longue durée and changes of recipe traditions as well as beauty and health cultures.

September 24, 2023

Stadtapotheke Winkler, Herzog-Friedrich-Straße 25, 6020 Innsbruck

17:00 Tour at the historical pharmacy
(limited number of people, by registration only)

September 25, 2023

Schloss Ambras, Schlossstraße 20, 6020 Innsbruck

9:30–12:30 Panel: Medical Cultures at Ambras Castle
(limited number of people, by registration only)

14:00–16:00 Panel: Historical Pharmacology in the Museum
(limited number of people, by registration only)

September 26, 2023

W&K Atelier, Bergstraße 12a, 5020 Salzburg

9:30–12:30 Panel: Beauty Cultures I: Methodological Considerations

14:00–16:00 Panel: Beauty Cultures II: Materials and Artefacts

HS 2, Unipark Nonntal, Erzabt-Klotz Str. 1, 5020 Salzburg

18:00–19:30 Collective Evening Lecture (hybrid): Doctoring Beauty. Beauty and Medicine in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Europe
with Christina Antenhofer (Salzburg), Jill Burke (Edinburgh), Montserrat Cabré (Cantabria), Irene Calà (Munich), Erin Griffey (Auckland), Timothy McCall (Villanova), Romana Sammern (Salzburg), and Katharina Seidl (Innsbruck)

To participate online, please sign up here:
https://uni-salzburg.webex.com/uni-salzburg-de/j.php?MTID=m357d5b7c6632a95e013452a6b12773ed

September 27, 2023

Austrian National Library, Josefsplatz 1, 1015 Vienna

11:00–13:00 Panel: Beauty Cultures in Manuscripts and Books
(limited number of people, by registration only)

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Burgring 5, 1010 Vienna: Picture collection, Kunstkammer

13:30–18:00 Panel: Beauty Cultures in the Museums I
(limited number of people, by registration only)

September 28, 2023

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Burgring 5, 1010 Vienna: Picture collection, Kunstkammer, Egyptian collection

10:00-12:00 Panel: Beauty Cultures in the Museums II
(limited number of people, by registration only)

13:00-19:00 Panel: Beauty Cultures in the Museums III
(limited number of people, by registration only)

Conception: Romana Sammern, Erin Griffey, Montserrat Cabré
Organization: Inter-University Organization Science and Arts (University of Salzburg/Mozarteum University Salzburg), area "Figurations of Transition", in cooperation with the KHM Museumsverband/Schloss Ambras Innsbruck; financed with the support of the State of Salzburg and the State of Tyrol