Enfilade

From the Call for Papers:

Origins and Evolution: The Quest for Beginnings, 1750–1850

Ursprung und Entwicklung: Sehnsucht und Suche nach den Anfängen, 1750–1850

Second Wellhöfer Colloquium, Martin von Wagner Museum, Universität Würzburg, 4–5 December 2026

Organized by Damian Dombrowski and Ulrich Pfisterer

Proposals due by 28 February 2026

The recourse to earlier stages of culture belongs to the basic inventory of every civilization. Since the mid-eighteenth century, however, profound transformations have taken place in the modes of such engagement. No longer were scholars, writers, and artists concerned solely with presumed or actual high points within their own pasts; instead, increasing attention was directed toward early forms of social and artistic formation. This ‘originist desire’ constitutes the central theme of this year’s Wellhöfer Colloquium, which every two years addresses research questions in the history of art and culture between 1750 and 1850 from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Across diverse regions of Europe, anthropology and early civilizational history emerged as central fields of scholarly inquiry. The normative authority of classical antiquity began to erode: in Italy, the Etruscans came into focus; in England, the Celts; and within the interior of the classicist Walhalla, the principal ornament was a monumental frieze depicting the history of the Germans from their migration from Asia to the baptism of Widukind. The Homeric epics were translated, revered, and illustrated on an unprecedented scale as the earliest monuments of literature, believed to embody a simplicity subsequently lost—corresponding to a broader revaluation of Mediterranean antiquity, for which Friedrich Schiller’s depiction of a prehistoric idyll in The Gods of Greece is emblematic. In archaeology, early idealism gave way to relativism, teleology to aetiology, and enthusiasm for the classical to an interest in the archaic. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Wilhelm von Humboldt pursued the idea of a primal language; Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Marc-Antoine Laugier anchored the ‘primitive hut’ in architectural theory.

Alongside this shift of beginnings into more remote historical strata, the thematic scope of the conference also encompasses the simultaneous reception of the Middle Ages. This reception found concrete expression, for example, in the illustrated volumes of J. B. L. G. Seroux d’Agincourt or in the collection assembled by Sulpiz Boisserée, as well as in visual culture through the style troubadour or the Nazarene movement. In light of a shared preoccupation with origins and authenticity, the traditional opposition between classicist and romantic tendencies loses much of its sharpness, while points of convergence in artistic practice come to the fore. Accordingly, contributions addressing formal archaisms, stylizations, and abstractions are particularly welcome—phenomena that, especially in nineteenth-century France (Ingres), appear to arise from the discourse on origins as a productive counterpoint to late classicist Salon painting.

It would also be worth discussing whether the outline style derived from Greek vase painting (Flaxman) should be situated within the same archaistic framework—and whether the concrete confrontation with archaic works, such as the Aegina pediment sculptures, may have posed excessive challenges to a productive reception. To what extent did the persistence of classicist aesthetics affect artistic and critical encounters with newly uncovered early epochs? And how did the growing knowledge of these periods, in turn, transform prevailing notions of normativity and exemplarity? The range of examples illustrating the new longing for beginnings could be extended almost indefinitely and in every conceivable direction; even the so-called ‘discovery of childhood’ belongs within this conceptual horizon.

Participation is sought not only from image-based disciplines—most notably art history and, in particular, classical archaeology—but the discussion would ideally be enriched by contributions from philological fields and the history of science. The invitation to the conference includes coverage of travel and accommodation costs. The organizers invite proposals for 20-minute papers in English or German. Please submit an abstract (maximum 2000 characters including spaces) and a short CV (maximum 1500 characters including spaces) by 28 February 2026 to Ulrich.Pfisterer@lrz.uni-muenchen.de and damian.dombrowski@uni-wuerzburg.de. Notification of participation will be given by 15 March 2026.

Organizers
• Damian Dombrowski (Martin von Wagner Museum der Universität Würzburg)
• Ulrich Pfisterer (Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, München)