Portraiture in Visual and Literary Culture (Ancient to Medieval)
Thursday, September 30, 5:00 - 6:20pm
Department of Classics (Classics Building, Room 21)
Keynote Lecture
What do Portraits Want? What Do People Want When They Call Images "Portraits"? - Marion Meyer, University of Vienna, Department of Classical Archaeology
The Department of Classics will host a reception after the lecture.
Friday, October 1, 9:30am - 5:00pm
Department of Art History (CWAC 157)
9:30 - 10:00am: Coffee & Pastries
10:00 - 10:05am: Opening Remarks - Niall Atkinson, Chair, Department of Art History
10:05 - 10:15am: Introduction - Karin Krause, University of Chicago, Divinity School
Session 1: Portrait and Remembrance
Chair: Marion Meyer
10:15 - 11:00am: The Portrait and the Funerary Monument in Classical Athens - Seth Estrin, University of Chicago, Department of Art History
11:00 - 11:45am: The Lingering Face: Classical and Medieval Echoes in Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Portraiture - Christopher Allison, Dominican University, McGreal Center
11:45am - 1:30pm: Lunch Break
Session 2: Divine Portraits
Chair: Jonathan Lyon
1:30 - 2:15pm: The Divine Image as Portrait in Pentateuchal Priestly Thought - Jeffrey Stackert, University of Chicago, Divinity School
2:15 - 3:00pm: "a moist secretion without colors and artistic craft": What did Christ's 'Unmade' Icons Depict? - Karin Krause, University of Chicago, Divinity School
3:00 - 3:30pm: Coffee Break - Art History Lounge, CWAC 161
Session 3: Icons as Portraits
Chair: Lioba Theis
3:30 - 4:15pm: The Berytus Icon: A Portrait on the Border of Life and Death - Nathan J. Hardy, University of Chicago, Divinity School
4:15 - 5:00pm: The Hodegetria and the Lukan Legend: A Scriptural Portrait - Lauren Beversluis, University of Chicago, Divinity School
Saturday, October 2 - 9:30am - 6:30pm
Department of Art History (CWAC 157)
9:30-10:00am: Coffee & Bagels - Art History Lounge, CWAC 161
Session 4: Portraits in Hagiography
Chair: Karin Krause
10:00 - 10:45am: The Work that Verbal Portraits Do: John Chrysostom, a Half-Empty Church, and a Hot Sunday in Antioch - Margaret M. Mitchell, University of Chicago, Divinity School
10:45 - 11:30am: Portraits of the Saints, in Word and Image: Ruminations from Byzantine Hagiography - Claudia Rapp, University of Vienna, Department of Byzantine Studies and Modern Greek Studies
11:30 - 12:15pm: Portraits of Holiness: Symeon the Stylite in Syriac and Greek Verse - Erin Galgay Walsh, University of Chicago, Divinity School
12:15 - 1:45pm: Lunch
Session 5: Realism in Portraits
Chair: Seth Estrin
1:45 - 2:30pm: Portraits as Witnesses of Donations - Lioba Theis, University of Vienna, Department of Art History
2:15 - 3:00pm: Literary Portraits in the Lives and Deeds of the Central Middle Ages -Jonathan Lyon, University of Chicago, Department of History
Concluding Remarks
3:15 - 3:30pm: Concluding Remarks - Claudia Rapp, University of Vienna, Department of Byzantine Studies
6:30p: Dinner for Speakers
Please note that the program is subject to change. The symposium is open to the public, and attendance is free of charge. No RSVP is needed. We will gather in person (no Zoom links will be distributed).
All symposium attendees must follow the university’s COVID-19 guidelines and safety precautions (https://goforward.uchicago.edu/). People who require social distancing accommodations should contact krause[at]uchicago.edu.
Organizers: Karin Krause, Marion Meyer, Claudia Rapp, and Lioba Theis
The organizers are grateful for support received from the Chicago-Vienna Faculty Grant Program, the Department of Art History, and the Department of Classics.