Seminar “No Man is an Island”: A Comparative Look at Early Modern Artists’ Studio Practices in Europe
International seminar “No Man is an Island”: A Comparative Look at Early Modern Artists’ Studio Practices in Europe
Seminar is in English
Free entrance. Registration by e-mail
An international a seminar held within the framework of the The exhibition Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio at the Kadriorg Art Museum offers a comparative look at artists’ studio practices in the Early Modern period, it sheds light on both the continuity of the tradition (the workshop) and its evolution (the studio), regional differences and universal similarities, as well as issues of art education and trade.
The exhibition has as some of its focus topics questions related to Strozzi’s workshop practices: running the workshop in Genoa and Venice, preparing autograph replicas and workshop copies, the role of pupils’ and assistants’ contributions in Strozzi’s oeuvre, and the adaptation of the master’s technique and style. Considering the extent of the workshop’s production in Strozzi’s work, this topic has so far remained understudied. The seminar brings together several examples of workshops/studios operating in the late 16th century and the first half of the 17th century, including examples from Italy, the Low Countries and the Baltic Sea region. The most famous examples of the period are Peter Paul Rubens’s “painting factory” in Antwerp, with its strict division of labour, and Rembrandt’s more pedagogical studio-school in Amsterdam. Before Rubens, Maarten de Vos ran the most productive studio in Antwerp, and it provided altarpieces and pictorial models that spread across Europe and the Atlantic Ocean and were adopted by different Christian confessions. Paintings from de Vos’s studio also formed the impetus for the joint research and exhibition project of the Kadriorg Art Museum and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum: Maarten de Vos: A Universal Image Engine (2025–2028).
The seminar is supported by the Ministry of Culture’s research capacity building measure for museums and the Italian Embassy.
Programme
11 am Welcoming words
Aleksandra Murre, the director of the Kadriorg Art Museum – Art Museum of Estonia
11.10 am Introduction to the seminar theme
Dr. Greta Koppel, a curator at the Kadriorg Art Museum
11.20 am The Madonna Enthroned: Creating a Monumental Altarpiece in the Rubens Workshop
Dr. Koen Bulckens, the curator of 16th‒17th century art, Royal Fine Arts Museum in Antwerp (KMSKA)
11.50 am Grappling with Greatness: Rembrandt and his “Disciples” in the Studio
Dr. David de Witt, a senior curator, Rembrandthuis
12.20–1.50 pm Leisurely lunch and time to visit the exhibition Bernardo Strozzi: Beyond Caravaggio
1.50 pm Jacopo Bassano: Running a Workshop in the Venetian Terraferma
Dr. Kirsi Eskelinen, the director of the Sinebrychoff Art Museum, Helsinki
2.20 pm An Artistic Elephant in the Room: Maarten de Vos Waiting to be Rediscovered
Dr. Nico van Hout, the head of collection research and curator of 17th century paintings, Royal Fine Arts Museum in Antwerp (KMSKA)
2.40–3 pm Coffee break
3 pm Ermanno Stroiffi and Strozzi’s Venetian Workshop: Between Techniques, Practices and Market
Anna Orlando, an independent researcher and curator / Municipality of Genova, Board of Culture
3.30 pm Bernardo Strozzi’s Painting Technique in his Journey Between Genoa and Venice
Dr. Michela Fasce, a painting conservator in Genoa
4 pm The Case of Concert: Strozzi’s Studio Production
Dr. Greta Koppel and Johanna Lamp, a former painting conservator in the Art Museum of Estonia
4.20 pm Wall Dyers and Artists in the Tallinn Painters’ Guild
PhD candidate Triin Kröönström, chief specialist, Tallinn City Archives
4.40 pm Exporting Art Across the Sea: Tobias Heintze’s Workshop in Tallinn
Dr. Merike Kurisoo, the director of the Niguliste Museum – Art Museum of Estonia
5–5.30 pm Moderated discussion
