Castles, Salons, and Darkrooms: Mapping the nobility’s impact on early photographic history (1840s–1860s).

PROGRAMME:
20 October 2026,
Academic Conference Centre (AKC), Husova 4a, Prague 1 & online

09:00–09:30 Registration & Coffee
09:30–09:45 Welcome & Opening Remarks / Tomáš WINTER, Petra TRNKOVÁ

PANEL 1: NOBLE AMATEURS
09:45–10:05 Marija TONKOVIĆ (Zagreb) – Juraj Drašković (1804–1889): Photography and Aristocratic Networks in the Habsburg Monarchy
10:05–10:25 Helen LEWANDOWSKI (Windsor) – Queen Victoria’s Photographic Networks in Central Europe
10:25–10:45 Anna BEDNAREK & Wojciech WALANUS (Kraków) – Count Aleksander Branicki (1821–1877): The First Polish Amateur Photographer?
10:45–11:15 Discussion
11:15–11:30 Coffee Break

PANEL 2: MATERIAL NETWORKS
11:30–11:50 Dainius JUNEVIČIUS (Vilnius) – Photography at Plateliai Manor in the 1860s: Reconstructing the Photographic Activities of Count Alexandre Choiseul-Gouffier
11:50–12:10 Zsuzsanna SZEGEDY-MASZÁK (Budapest) – A Photoceramic and the Social Worlds of Photography
12:10–12:30 Discussion
12:30–13:30 Lunch

PANEL 3: ELITE CIRCLES
13:30–13:50 Anthony HAMBER (London) – Knowledge Networks and the Role of the Nobility in the Rise of Photography: A British Framework
13:50–14:10 Charles Paul AZZOPARDI (Malta) – Noble Exposure: The Preziosi Brothers & Early Photography Between Malta and Constantinople
14:10–14:30 Libor JŮN (Prague) – Photography between Central Europe and the Near East: Otto von Ostheim – Adventurer, Émigré, and Photographer
14:30–15:00 Discussion
15:00–15:15 Coffee Break

PANEL 4: BEYOND PATRONAGE
15:15–15:35 Stéphany ONFRAY (Madrid) – Aristocratic Women and Photographic Culture: A Methodological Proposal
15:35–15:55 Anežka MIKULCOVÁ (Prague) – Servants Through the Camera Lens: Portraits of Domestic Staff in Aristocratic Photo Albums
15:55–16:15 Discussion
16:15–16:30 Coffee Break

PLENARY LECTURE
16:30–17:00 Monika FABER (Vienna) – Photographs for the Habsburg Family
17:00–17:30 Discussion & Closing Remarks

17:30–18:30 Farewell Networking Reception

Attendance is free, but registration is required. Please register by emailing to ticha[at]udu.cas.cz by 15 October 2026. The conference will be held in a hybrid format; registered attendees will receive the Zoom link a few days prior to the event.
The programme is subject to change.

Organizers: Libor Jůn, Francesca Strobino, Denisa Tichá, and Petra Trnková
This conference is organized as part of the project ‘Photography Go-Betweens and the Closed Society,’ hosted by the Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences and supported by the Czech Science Foundation (Project ID: 26-20400S).