Gothic (Revival) Spaces: Concepts and Reinterpretation of British and Continental Domestic Architecture 1750–1900.

Critical engagements with so-called Gothic spaces in fiction is arguably one of many intellectual explorations in the field of Gothic literature. These literary representations of space may emphasise the semiotic structure of fictional spaces in terms of plot, atmosphere and mood but they also reflect on characteristics and behavioural patterns of the narrative’s protagonists.

Until recently however, less sustained scholarly attention has been paid to the relationship between Gothic architecture and Gothic literature and the architectural style of the Middle Ages as prototype of the Gothic Revival space. In the discipline of art history, on the other hand, a critical focus on Neo-Gothic architecture that highlights design, styles and architectural precursors inhabits a much more prominent role. And yet one could argue that scholarly enquiries into the complexity of spatial structures and effects including the re-contextualised Gothic forms and features as well as the social and performative functions of spaces, especially Gothic Revival interiors and furniture, are yet to emerge.

With the conference “Gothic (Revival) Spaces” we critically engage with the imaginary spaces in literature and the actually built or designed architectural spaces, since there’s little doubt that the evolution of the fictional and the tangible, material Gothic space is closely intertwined.

Organisation:

Daniela Roberts (daniela.robertsuni-wuerzburg.de), Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg

Christina Clausen (clausenkunst.tu-darmstadt.de), Fachgebiet Architektur- und Kunstgeschichte, Universität Darmstadt

Programme

Thursday, 14 November 2024
Location: Martin von Wagner Museum, Residenz, Residenzplatz 2 A, Tor A

13:00 Arrival

13:30 Welcome and Introduction: Daniela Roberts (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg) and Christina Clausen (Technische Universität Darmstadt)

14:00-14:45 Keynote lecture
Dale Townshend (Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies / Manchester Metropolitan University) „Towards a Poetics of Gothic Space”

- Coffee break 30 minutes-

Section I (Chair: Daniela Roberts) Literary and Visual Fiction of Gothic Space

15:15-16:00 Antje Fehrmann (Freie Universität Berlin)
„Fragmented Gaze versus Spatial Narrative: Horace Walpole and his Appropriation of Medieval Architecture“

16:00-16:45 Nicolas Marine (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid)
„A Broad Mass of Existence: The House of the Seven Gables and the view from the Gothic House“

- Coffee break 30 minutes-

17:15-18:00 Maria Duran Marques (Universidade de Lisboa)
„Gothic Fictions – Walpole's Influences on Ferdinand II of Portugal and his Gothic Revival Projects in the Domestic Sphere“

18:00-18:45 Christina Clausen (Technische Universität Darmstadt)
„Interactions between Pictorial Spaces in Painting and Neo-Gothic Interior Designs“

Friday, 15 November 2024
Location: Martin von Wagner Museum, Residenz, Residenzplatz 2 A, Tor A

Section II (Chair: Antje Fehrmann) Constitution and Perception of Gothic Space

9:30-10:15 Ute Engel (Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg)
„The Chapel in the Woods and The Vyne. The Ambiguity of Gothic (Revival) Spaces“

10:15-11:00 Michal Lynn Shumate (Scuola IMT Alti Studi, Lucca)
„Pointed Arches and Atmosphere: Cataloguing Roman Gothic“

11:00-11:45 Margarida Elias (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
„The Gothic Revival in Lisbon during the 19th Century“

-12:00 Lunch-
Location: Toscana-Saal, Residenz, Residenzplatz 2 A, Tor A

Section III (Chair: Christina Clausen) Concepts of Historicisation and Authenticity as a Construction of Political Identity

14:00-14:45 Meinrad von Engelberg (Technische Universität Darmstadt)
„Von Laxenburg nach Stolzenfels – Die politische Bedeutung der deutschen Neugotik“

14:45-15:30 Mélina Collin (Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3)
„American Gothic: Andrew Jackson Downing and the Democratisation of the Gothic Revival Style in the United States”

-Coffee break 30 minutes-

16:00-16:45 Dominik Müller (ETH Zürich)
„Pyramids, Hexagons and Pinnacles: Batalha’s Influence"

16:45-17:30 Madalena Costa Lima (Universidade de Lisboa)
„Concepts of Gothic: judgements and sensibilities towards a not yet defined style in the long eighteenth century“

-Break 30 minutes-

18:00-19:00 Keynote lecture
Peter Lindfield (Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University) „Creating multi-layered Gothic (Revival) spaces in C18 and C19 Britain: The fashionable and eccentric“

Saturday, 16 November 2024
Location: Toscana-Saal, Residenz, Residenzplatz 2 A, Tor A

Section IV (Chair: Michal Lynn Shumate) Neo-Gothic Interior in the Context of Stylistic Pluralism

9:30-10:15 Matthew Winterbottom (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
„Furnishing Gothic Revival Space”

10:15-11:00 Tommaso Zerbi (Deutsches Historisches Institut in Rom)
„Tracing Empire and Domestic Gothic in the Eternal City“ (online)

-Coffee break 30 minutes-

11:30-12:15 Katrin Kaufmann (Vitrocentre Romont)
“Light and colour in the Gothic Revival – Stained glass as a constitutive element of neo-Gothic interior design”

12:15-13:00 Ole W. Fischer (Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart)
„Learning from Morris? – From Red House to Bloemenwerf. Henry van de Velde and the Invention of L'Art Nouveau from the Spirit of Gothic“

13:00 Closing discussion