Castles, Salons, and Darkrooms

This conference aims to explore the role and impact of members of the nobility as key agents who shaped the conditions for the development of photographic culture and the dissemination of photographic knowledge in Europe between the 1840s and 1860s.

 

PROGRAM

09:00–09:30 Registration & Coffee

09:30–09:45 Welcome & Opening Remarks / Tomáš WINTER, Petra TRNKOVÁ

 

PANEL 1: NOBLE AMATEURS

09:45–10:05 Marija TONKOVIĆ (Zagreb) – Juraj Drašković (1804–1889): Photography and Aristocratic Networks in the Habsburg Monarchy

10:05–10:25 Helen LEWANDOWSKI (Windsor) – Queen Victoria’s Photographic Networks in Central Europe

10:25–10:45 Anna BEDNAREK & Wojciech WALANUS (Kraków) – Count Aleksander Branicki (1821–1877): The First Polish Amateur Photographer?

10:45–11:15 Discussion

11:15–11:30 Coffee Break

 

PANEL 2: MATERIAL NETWORKS

11:30–11:50 Dainius JUNEVIČIUS (Vilnius) – Photography at Plateliai Manor in the 1860s: Reconstructing the Photographic Activities of Count Alexandre Choiseul-Gouffier

11:50–12:10 Zsuzsanna SZEGEDY-MASZÁK (Budapest) – A Photoceramic and the Social Worlds of Photography

12:10–12:30 Discussion

12:30–13:30 Lunch

 

PANEL 3: ELITE CIRCLES

13:30–13:50 Anthony HAMBER (London) – Knowledge Networks and the Role of the Nobility in the Rise of Photography: A British Framework

13:50–14:10 Charles Paul AZZOPARDI (Malta) – Noble Exposure: The Preziosi Brothers & Early Photography Between Malta and Constantinople

14:10–14:30 Libor JŮN (Prague) – Photography between Central Europe and the Near East: Otto von Ostheim – Adventurer, Émigré, and Photographer

14:30–15:00 Discussion

15:00–15:15 Coffee Break

 

PANEL 4: BEYOND PATRONAGE

15:15–15:35 Stéphany ONFRAY (Madrid) – Aristocratic Women and Photographic Culture: A Methodological Proposal

15:35–15:55 Anežka MIKULCOVÁ (Prague) – Servants Through the Camera Lens: Portraits of Domestic Staff in Aristocratic Photo Albums

15:55–16:15 Discussion

16:15–16:30 Coffee Break

 

PLENARY LECTURE

16:30–17:00 Monika FABER (Vienna) – Photographs for the Habsburg Family

17:00–17:30 Discussion & Closing Remarks

17:30–18:30 Farewell Networking Reception

 

20 October 2026 Academic Conference Centre

Husova 4a, Prague

 

Petra Trnková, Francesca Strobino, Libor Jůn, and Denisa Tichá

Institute of Art History of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague

 

Kontakt

trnkova@udu.cas.cz

https://www.udu.cas.cz/en/akce/castles-salons-and-darkrooms