10th Annual ARDS Colloquium

The 10th Annual ARDS Colloquium, which promotes and celebrates new research in the field of medieval and Renaissance sculpture, will focus on the interaction and interplay between the Low Countries and Italy in medieval and Renaissance sculpture. The conference will take place in Rome, at the Academia Belgica and the Royal Netherlands Institute Rome (KNIR) from 7 November until 9 November 2023. The conference program consists of lectures, in combination with a choice of excursions.

In 2026 M Leuven will organise an exhibition on the cultural exchange between the Low Countries and Italy in the field of sculpture. Based on a selection of emblematic works – including wooden, alabaster, marble, and bronze sculptures, as well as drawings and engravings, often produced in Italy itself, the exhibition aims to provide, for the first time, the most comprehensive overview possible of the history of 16th-century sculpture from the Low Countries and its connection with the Italian Renaissance. In the wake of this exhibition the 10th ARDS Annual Conference will focus on the interaction between these two regions in medieval and Renaissance sculpture.

The colloquium will combine 11 selected paper presentations with in situ visits to the San Luigi dei Francesi church, the Santa Maria dell'Anima church, the Santa Maria in Vallicella church, the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Chiesa della Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, the Palazzo Venezia and the Galleria Borghese.