From the Baltic Sea Region to the Iberian Peninsula. The Art at the time of Michel Sittow (c. 1469-1525).
Estonian Academy of Arts, EKA, Tallinn, Dec 4–06, 2025
Registration deadline: Nov 28, 2025
The year 2025 marks the 500th anniversary of Michel Sittow’s death in his hometown of Reval (now Tallinn). Sittow’s life, career, and œuvre exemplify how, in the Late Medieval and Early Modern world, professional mobility was no less significant than it is today. The seminar aims to explore the international visual and political contexts surrounding Sittow in order to better understand his experiences within the artistic production and visual culture of late fifteenth- and early sixteenth-century Europe.
The seminar brings together early-career and established scholars from various fields, including history, art history, visual culture studies, and artwork restoration and conservation. It offers an academic forum for discussing the background of Michel Sittow’s life and works and their international reception.
Registration form for the attendees (open until 28.11.2025): https://forms.gle/ZHFFD3W35ms5oeYJ6
More information on the event: oskar.rojewski@us.edu.pl
Organisers: Anneli Randla, Anu Mänd, Oskar J. Rojewski
Scientific committee: Till-Holger Borchert, Ana Diéguez-Rodríguez, Bart Fransen, Catheline Périer-D’Ieteren, Andrew Sears, Matthias Weniger
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PROGRAMME
THURSDAY, 4 December 2025
Estonian Academy of Arts. Põhja pst 7, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia
13.30 Welcome of the participants
13.45 – Keynote: Cultural Dynamics across Europe at the Time of Michel Sittow (c. 1469-1525): Implications for Art History Research – Julia Trinkert (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf)
14.30 Coffee break
15.00 Baltic and Scandinavian Territories and their cultural interactions
Migrations and Interactions of Artists, Visual Culture, and Natural Materials between the Baltic Region and the Holy Roman Empire – Ruth Sargent Noyes (Estonian Academy of Arts – EKA)
New Style in a Local Setting: South German Art in Late Medieval and Early Modern Prussia – Andrzej Woziński (University of Gdańsk)
Haaken Gulleson meets Michel Sittow. Local and Continental Sculpture in the Northern Periphery – Lars Nylander (Hälsinglands Museum)
From Gdańsk to the Iberian Peninsula for figs, raisins and oranges – Beata Możejko (University of Gdańsk)
Debate
FRIDAY, 5 December 2025
Estonian Academy of Arts, Põhja pst 7, 10412 Tallinn, Estonia
9.30 – Keynote: Making, Matter and Meaning: Technical Art History and Interdisciplinarity – Erma Hermens (University of Cambridge)
10.15 Coffee break
10.45 The Iberian Peninsula political and artistic landscape before, during and after Michel Sittow’s stay (1492-1502)
This historiographical evaluation of the Polyptych of Isabella of Castile – Jessica Weiss (Denver Metropolitan State University)
Stanisłaus Polonus and Itinerant Printers around 1500: An Art Historical Look at the Geography of Early Printing – Karolina Mroziewicz (University of Warsaw)
From the Southern Netherlands to Portugal: When, Where, By Whom, and For Whom Was The So-Called Hours of Dom Manuel Made? – Gregory T. Clark (University of the South, Sewanee)
Some Observations on Workshop Practices of the Benson Group in Export Production – Sacha Zdanov (Fondation Périer D’Ieteren – Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Debate
12.30 Lunch Break
14.00 Visit to the Tallinn City Archive (Tiina Kala / Juhan Kreem)
16.00 All roads lead to… Mechelen. The visual culture and artistic migration in the Low Countries at the turn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Continuity and Change in the Inventories of Margaret of Austria – Geoffrey Nuttall (Independent scholar)
‘Dissuading the Emperor’. The Spanish impact on the journey of Jan Gossart to Rome and his further oeuvre – Max Wiringa (Catholic University of Leuven – KU Leuven)
Fairford Church: Subtle Clues Discovered during the Conservation and Restoration of the Complete Glazing Scheme Suggest Both a Date and a Designer – Keith Barley (Barley Studio, York)
The Altarpiece from Ringsaker: The Low Countries’ Rivalry with the Holy Roman Empire for the Scandinavian Altarpiece Market – Jakub Jakubik (University of Silesia in Katowice)
Debate
17.30 Concluding remarks
20.00 Conference dinner
SATURDAY, 6 December 2025
11.00. Visit to the Niguliste Museum (Merike Kurisoo and Greta Koppel)