The Institute of Art History of the University of Wrocław and the Ossoliński National Institute invite you to participate in an international academic conference devoted to early modern portraiture in Silesia and its neighbouring lands. The artistic phenomena observable in Silesia were similar in other lands of the Bohemian Crown, while the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had extraordinary patrons of portraiture among its magnates and high-ranking clergy. The organisers invite you to jointly reflect on the place of the portrait in the visual culture of Central Europe, on its functions, meanings, and transformations over the centuries. They are open to new methodological perspectives and various interdisciplinary approaches that take into account the socio-economic conditions of the epoch and region. They welcome not only scholars interested in painted portraiture but also in sculptural, graphic, and drawn portraits.

PROPOSED THEMATIC AREAS:

The organisers encourage the submission of papers addressing, among others, the following topics:

• The portrait and its function: representation of power, propaganda, commemoration, self-creation, the portrait as an object of exchange
• Historicising portraiture and sacred identification portraits
• The portrait and the sitter’s identity: confession, estate, nationality, gender
• Portraitists and their place in the art market: the artistic activity of portrait painters and guild structures with their constraints, secular and ecclesiastical servitorate, artist mobility and earnings
• The portrait and its display: residential ancestor galleries, monastic portrait cycles of abbots and abbesses, collections of portraits of famous figures, scholars and professors, bourgeois interiors, images in public spaces, epitaphs and tombstones
• The portrait in sculpture, numismatics, graphic arts, and decorative arts
• The turbulent fate of portraits: translocations, destruction, thefts, restitution

The thematic scope remains flexible. We will gladly consider proposals that extend beyond the aforementioned areas.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Speaking time: 20 minutes
• Conference languages: English

Please send your proposals by 31 July 2026 to:
marek.kwasny2@uwr.edu.pl

Submissions should include:

• Full name, academic title/degree, affiliation
• Paper title
• Abstract (max. 200 words)
• Short biographical note
• Notification of acceptance will be sent by 31 August 2026.

CONFERENCE PUBLICATION

The organisers plan to publish a peer-reviewed post-conference monograph in English with a high-scoring academic publisher.

FEES AND PRACTICAL INFORMATION

• Conference Fee: 450 PLN / 100 EUR
• The fee includes: Conference materials, coffee breaks, lunches, and a gala dinner.

Read more: https://historiasztuki.uwr.edu.pl/konferencje-naukowe/call-for-papers-international-academic-conferencebaroque-portraiture-in-silesia-and-its-neighbouring-lands-new-perspectives/