Date:

12–13 February 2026

Venues:

Venue on February 12, 2026: Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Vienna, 2nd Floor, Lecture Room

Venue on February 13, 2026: University of Vienna, Hofburg, Schreyvogelsaal, entrance Batthyany-Stiege, next to Sisi Museum, 1st Floor

About the Conference:

This conference explores the translation of images of love and female beauty that evolved from Petrarch‘s Canzoniere, not only a collection of love poems but also a powerful producer of images of the beloved. Building on the work currently being done by the international research project, “Petrarch in Global Translation,” sponsored by the NOMIS Foundation, scholars from 13 different countries will trace the diffusion of this poetic image-making across different languages, cultures and media. The panels focusing on the iconic representations of Petrarch’s Laura will be complemented by a keynote on female portraiture from the Renaissance to the present and a guided tour through the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The conference will be completed by a Round Table on “Laura and the Male Gaze”.

For further information, please visit our Conference Website

Registration:

REGISTER HERE: REGISTRATION FORM

Only a limited number of registrations are possible, so please cancel your registration via email if you are not able to attend: Helga.maria.auer@univie.ac.at

We look forward to welcoming you to the conference!

Photographs: We would like to inform you that photos will be taken at the event, which may be used on the communication channels of the University of Vienna and for public relation reasons. If you do not agree to this, please contact the photographer on site. By registering and participating in the event, you acknowledge that photographs and video footage of you may be used for documentation, reporting and promotion of the event and may be published. For more details, please see our privacy policy (PDF).