The IAS is excited to be sponsoring, for the first time ever, a session at the UK-based Association for Art History Conference, University of Cambridge, 8-10 April 2026:
Eighteenth-Century Italian Art and Artists in Global Contexts
Arlene Leis, Independent Scholar, aleis914@gmail.com
Miriam Al Jamil, Independent Scholar, mauvemiriam@gmail.com
This session invites papers that consider the work of eighteenth-century Italian artists and artists living in Italy, in the context of newly available trans-cultural influences and sources of visual and material culture. As curiosity about the wider world exploded, the eighteenth- century witnessed global movements of materials, techniques and makers to a larger extent than ever before. Tourists and artists travelled to Italy and visited academies, monuments, museums and private collections, while Italian artists travelled outside Italian borders to test new art markets and gain patrons. Characterized by voyages of exploration, new technologies, scientific discoveries, political upheaval and nascent industrialization, the cross-cultural encounters taking place between individuals at that time, along with the mobility of commodities and ideas, prompted artists to experiment with new subject matter and visual languages within and outside of the Italian peninsula.
Moving beyond isolated narratives, this panel aims to broaden scholarly perspectives by focusing on Italian encounters—real or imagined—with other populations throughout the world to study how those exchanges were expressed through visual and material cultures, including painting, sculpture, print, design, architecture and decorative arts. We invite a broad range of 20-minute papers, particularly addressing topics such as: spaces of exchange, Indigenous knowledge, social networks, colonial encounters and the construction of an exotic consciousness, Grand Tour travel, collections, collectors and patronage, global religious encounters, commercial interests, new media and materials.
To offer a paper:
Please email your paper proposals direct to the session convenor(s).
You need to provide a title and abstract (250 words maximum) for a 20-minute paper (unless otherwise specified), your name and institutional affiliation (if any).
Please make sure the title is concise and reflects the contents of the paper because the title is what appears online, in social media and in the digital programme. You should receive an acknowledgement of receipt of your submission within two weeks. A template form is provided. [link: https://app.box.com/s/e1r529tdk6ef6ycfc6gqkxnry9bn4e0u]
Deadline for submissions: 2 November 2025
N.B. All invited speakers must be members of the Italian Art Society by the time the full conference program is finalized.
Further information is available here: https://app.box.com/s/rsyr7tsfwxwvagukjguqaw0yqdpk0grc