INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM SPONSORED BY THE FLEMISH-DUTCH COMMITTEE VNC

HEVERLEE, Arenberg Castle, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1, Blue Auditorium
30-31 October 2008

PDF of the program for download

This congress will bring together scholars of different countries who have studied particular aspects of Netherlandish influence on European architecture of the Early Modern Period. Between 1480 and 1680, the impact of Netherlandish architecture showed itself in a myriad of ways from the Iberian Peninsula to the Baltic Sea, and from the Central European courts to Tudor England. Hitherto only isolated cases have been studied; an integrated approach and a structured view of this phenomenon are sorely missing to this day. The congress will offer, for the first time, a forum where the long tradition of Netherlandish architects abroad, and the mechanisms underlying their activities beyond the borders of the Low Countries, can be studied in a coherent way. The long-term objective is the preparation of a more thorough study of the phenomenon in all its variants.

The papers will offer answers to the following questions, centered on the main actors; i.e. the architects and their patrons:

• • How was the knowledge of Netherlandish architecture disseminated? What was the role of travelling building masters and how important were (family) networks for the exchange of formal and/or technical expertise? What was the influence of architectural prints and treatises for artisans, architects and patrons? What role did the trade in building materials (especially stone and marble from the Southern Netherlands) play in the spread of architectural knowledge and forms? 
• • Who were the patrons? What was their connection with the Low Countries and why did they engage Netherlandish architects? What stimulated this demand? Who were the intermediary agents? On a more general plane, we must ask why experts from the Low Countries were called in? Was it because of their technical expertise? Or because they could provide a  Netherlandish’ art? Or were they appreciated as intermediaries with connections to international architectural currents (such as the flamboyant late gothic from Brabant around 1500, or the ‘antique’ architecture for which Antwerp in the middle of the 16th and Amsterdam in the 17th century were leading centres)? 

Scientific Committee

• Krista De Jonge (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
• Konrad Ottenheym (Universiteit Utrecht)
• Heiner Borggrefe (Weserrenaissance-Museum Schloss Brake, Lemgo)
• Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann (Princeton University)
• Luc Duerloo (Universiteit Antwerpen)
• Bernardo García García (Universidad Complutense de Madrid – Fundación Carlos de Amberes, Madrid)
• Hugo Johannsen (Nationalmuseet København)
• Ethan Matt Kavaler (University of Toronto)
• Juliette Roding (Universiteit Leiden)

Participants 

• Konrad Ottenheym (Universiteit Utrecht)
• Krista De Jonge (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Directors of the Project
• Dirk Van de Vijver (Universiteit Utrecht)
• Pieter Martens (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Researchers on the Project
• Nils Ahlberg (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala) 
• Brigitte Bøggild Johannsen (Nationalmuseet København)
• Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann (Princeton University)
• Bernardo García García (Universidad Complutense de Madrid – Fundación Carlos de Amberes, Madrid)
• Hugo Johannsen (Nationalmuseet København)
• Piet Lombaerde (Higher Architecture Institute Henry van de Velde, Antwerp)
• Badeloch Noldus (Museum Fredriksborg)
• Ojars Sparitis (Latvian Art Academy, Riga)
• Gabri van Tussenbroek (Gemeente Amsterdam, Bureau Monumenten en Archeologie)
• Jacek Tylicki (Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, and National Museum, Gdańsk) 
• Anthony Wells-Cole (Leeds)
• Barbara Uppenkamp (Hamburg) – Referent 

Programme

Venue: Blue Auditorium, Arenberg Castle, Kasteelpark Arenberg 1, De Croylaan, B-3001 Heverlee, Belgium

30 OCTOBER 2008 

1.30 p.m. Reception, enrolment (downstairs corridor, Arenberg Castle)

2.45 p.m. Discussion

President: Luc Duerloo – Issues of Networking and Patronage

3.00 p.m.        Krista De Jonge, Netherlandish Models from the Habsburg Sphere of Influence, from Spain to Denmark and Germany: the Problem of the Netherlandish Court Artist 

3.30 p.m.        Discussion

3.45 p.m.        Birgitte Bøggild Johannsen, Promising Enterprises and Broken Dreams – Netherlandish Influences in Denmark during the Early 16th Century

4.15 p.m.        Discussion

4.30 p.m.        Coffee break (Hertogenzaal, Arenberg Castle)

5.00 p.m.       Bernardo García García, Netherlandish Influence in Spain at the time of Philip II and Philip III: the Paper Trail

5.30 p.m.       Discussion

5.45 p.m.       Badeloch Noldus, Mechanisms for the Migration of Architecture from the Dutch Republic to the North: the Case of Thomas Walgensteen

6.15 p.m.       Discussion

6.30 p.m.      Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, ‘Netherlandish Influence’ beyond Europe. Issues and Definitions

31 OCTOBER 2008

President: Krista De Jonge – Mechanisms of Transmission I: Traveling Engineers/Architects

8.30 a.m.          Welcome (with coffee)

9.00 a.m.          Pieter Martens, Netherlandish Engineers Across Europe: State of the Art

9.30 a.m.          Discussion

9.45 a.m.          Piet Lombaerde, Exporting Urban Models: the Low Countries and Northern Germany, Schleswig-Hollstein, and Denmark

10.15 a.m.        Discussion

10.30 a.m.        Nils Ahlberg, Netherlandish Influences in Swedish  17th-century Town Planning

11.00 a.m.        Discussion

11.15 a.m.        Coffee break (Hertogenzaal, Arenberg Castle)

11.45 a.m.        Hugo Johannsen, The Steenwinckels – Success Story of a Netherlandish Immigrant Family in Denmark 

12.15 a.m.        Discussion

President: Krista De Jonge – Mechanisms of Transmission II: Paper Architecture

12.30 a.m.        Heiner Borggrefe, New Evidence of Netherlandish Influence in the Weser Region  

13.00 a.m.        Discussion

13.15 a.m.        Lunch (Hertogenzaal, Arenberg Castle)

President: Konrad Ottenheym – Mechanisms of Transmission II: Paper Architecture (cont’d)

2.15 p.m.          Anthony Wells-Cole, Mechanisms for the Migration of Architecture from the Low Countries to England: Prints and Books

2.45 p.m.          Discussion

President: Konrad Ottenheym – Assimilation, Acculturation, Transmission: Immigrant Experts and Local Talent

3.00 p.m  Gabri van Tussenbroek, Netherlandish Influence on the Architecture of Berlin and Brandenburg 1648-1688

3.30 p.m.          Discussion

3.45 p.m.          Coffee break (Hertogenzaal, Arenberg Castle)

4.15 p.m.          Dirk Van de Vijver, Architectural Relations between the Low Countries and the Balticum: the Case of Gdańsk

4.45 p.m.          Discussion

5.00 p.m.          Jacek Tylicki, The Van den Blocke Artistic Family in Gdańsk and Central Europe 

5.30 p.m.          Discussion

5.45 p.m.          Ojars Sparitis, Jorisz. Frese, Building Master of Riga, and Netherlandish Influence in Riga and Latvia  around 1600

6.15 p.m.          Closing discussion

7.00 p.m.          Closing reception (Hertogenzaal, Arenberg Castle)

Contact

Attendance (including coffee breaks, lunch and closing reception) is free, but enrolment is obligatory for practical reasons. Please enrol before October 15, 2008.

Practical enquiries (about the venue, transport, hotels in Leuven, etc.) to Ms Kelly Ruymen ONLY:

Kelly.ruymen@asro.kuleuven.be 

All other enquiries, including announcing that you will attend, to the organizer Prof Krista De Jonge ONLY:

Krista.dejonge@asro.kuleuven.be.