Violence, Chaos, Destruction? Depictions of War in the Early Modern Period.

The University of Hamburg and the DFG-Centre for Advanced Studies Imaginaria of Force present the Early-Career-Conference 'Violence, Chaos, Destruction? Depictions of War in the Early Modern Period', organised by Svenja Hasche, Ruben Wagner and Frank Fehrenbach. The conference will be held in Hamburg on 11 and 12 December 2025 at the Warburg-Haus.

Between the 14th and 17th centuries, the depiction of war became a central theme in the visual arts. The genesis of these works presented a variety of challenges for the artists. At the same time, these works have a specific visual rhetoric, impact and function within their historical context. This raises methodological questions about how to approach war and violence in art history. The conference aims to give an opportunity to young researchers to present and discuss their research about war imagery in the early modern period.

How did artists accomplish the task of translating warlike events into pictorial space? What dynamics and potentials arose in the process? How were ancient heritage and political iconography adopted and developed? In what ways were the works instrumentalized and used for propaganda purposes? Which art historical approaches are productive when dealing with works of this kind?

Program
Thursday, 11.12.25
Location: Warburg-Haus, Hamburg

10:00
Registration and Coffee
10:30
Opening Remarks
Svenja Hasche and Ruben Wagner (Hamburg)
11:00
(Five) Methods for an Art History of War
Francesca Borgo (Rome)
12:00
Lunch Break

Section I: Staging War
Chair: Gerd Micheluzzi (Hamburg)
14:00
Krieg spielen? Jacques Callots Fächer und die Ästhetisierung von Gewalt im Florenz Cosimos II.
Darius Wakilzadeh (Hamburg)
14:45
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Außergewöhnliche Gewaltikonographie in propagandistischen Darstellungen des Achtzigjährigen Krieges
Adrian Mauser (Cologne)
15:30
Coffee Break

Section II: Potentials of War Imagery
Chair: Ruben Wagner (Hamburg)
16:00
Engraving Conflict: From Hogenberg’s News Broadsheet to Callot’s Theatrical Spectacle
Sara Benninga (Tel Aviv)
17:00
Visit of the Kupferstickabinett at the Hamburger Kunsthalle:
Die Kriegsruine als anklagende Landschaft: Augustin Coppens und Richard van Orleys Perspectives des ruines de la ville de Bruxelles
Jenny Sophie Emanuel (Hamburg)

Friday, 12.12.25
Location: Warburg-Haus, Hamburg

Section III: War without Battle?
Chair: Ivo Raband (Hamburg)
09:00
Placemaking/Pacemaking: Sixteenth Century Monumental Battle Prints (Nicolaus Meldemann and Hans Sebald Beham’s Siege of Vienna, and Hans Mielich’s The Camp Before Ingolstadt)
Jackie Streker (Philadelphia)
09:45
Virtus et potentia. Tizians Adlocutio des Marchese del Vasto und Gewaltentzug im Bild
Svenja Hasche (Hamburg)
10:30
Coffee Break

Section IV: Battlefields as Imaginary Spaces
Chair: Ruben Wagner (Hamburg)
11:00
Rubens’ Visualisierung des Krieges: Zur Amazonenschlacht von 1617/1618 und Pikturalisierung von Gewalt
Maximilian Geiger (Wuppertal)
11:45
Ziehen, Hebeln, Drehen: Kräfte und Mechaniken in Martino Rotas Allegorien zur Seeschlacht von Lepanto
Caroline Stobbe (Hamburg)
12:30
Lunch Break

Section V: Destruction between order and chaos
Chair: Svenja Hasche (Hamburg)
14:30
Zwischen Leben und Tod oszillierende Krieger. Eine phantastische Schlachtenzeichnung Leonardos
Ruben Wagner (Hamburg)
15:15
Mannerism, Naturalism and War Loot in Theodore de Bry’s America Series
Alfie Robinson (Rome)
16:00
Coffee Break

16:30
Final Discussion
Chair: Frank Fehrenbach (Hamburg)
17:30
End of the Conference

Contact: svenja.hascheuni-hamburg.de
No registration required.