The workshop “The Medici and the Princely Courts of Central and Eastern Europe: Art, Diplomacy, and Material Culture” is organised the Medici Archive Project, Connected Central European Worlds, 1500-1700 and Collecting Central Europe.

Communication between courts and cities could be achieved by several means, including the exchange of objects, artists, diplomats and news. Exchange was rarely a linear back-and-forth but could follow all sorts of patterns. In early modern Europe, it included the nascent courts in Italy, as well as central and eastern European courts among others.
The workshop will focus on courtly exchange via objects, such as diplomatic gifts between early modern rulers to establish rarely investigated patterns of connectivity extending throughout eastern and northern Europe. It aims to demonstrate that by the early sixteenth century, the Medici court, the Holy Roman Empire, Poland-Lithuania, Hungarian territories, and beyond used objects and artists to maintain contact and convey diplomatic messages. While some courts may have developed more direct routes of communication, at various times the courts at Vienna, Dresden, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Krakow, and Warsaw played important nodal roles.

The organisers welcome paper proposals from established scholars, as well as work in progress from advanced doctoral candidates. The workshop will take place in person in Florence at the Medici Archive Project, Palazzo Alberti. The conference language is English. Papers should not exceed 20 minutes. Please send the following material by 15 October 2024 to education@medici.org: (1) full name, affiliation and email address; (2) paper title (15-word max); (3) abstract text (200 words max); and (4) short curriculum vitae/bio (200 words max).
More information: https://arthist.net/archive/42481