Ancient Female Sculptural Portraits and their Afterlife – Studies, Analyses and Digital Reconstructions
 

The symposium will discuss the classical tradition of female portrait sculpture by examining the presence of such works in archaeological context and collecting history. Our emphasis will be on archaeometric and conservation/restoration analyses, and on exploring the potential of digital technologies for reconstruction and dissemination. With its strong interdisciplinary focus, the symposium will bring together specialists in archaeology, art history, philology, conservation-restoration, stone material analysis, and digital humanities, with the aim of sharing perspectives, methods, and research findings.

This event will help promote the scholarly exchange between disciplines, and their complementary approaches will result in a richer and more nuanced understanding of the role of female portraiture in Greco-Roman sculpture, its survival into the Early Modern period, and its future projection in the fields of research and cultural heritage dissemination.

Themes of Interest:
We invite proposals that address the following main themes:
A. Sculptural Portraits of Antiquae Feminae in Archaeological and Antiquarian Contexts
B. Iconography, Properties, Messages
C. Conservation/Restoration, Marble Analysis and Polychromy
D. Sculptural Portraits of Antiquae Feminae and Digital Humanities: Reconstruction/Recreation and Dissemination

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
Please submit an abstract of no more than 500 words by 30 November 2025.
Abstracts must be prepared in English and submitted as a Word file to the symposium email address:
symposium.antiquaefeminae@gmail.com
Announcement of acceptance/rejection of papers is planned for 15 January 2026.

CONFERENCE FEES
•    160 € Regular participants
•    60 € Students and accompanying persons

The registration fee includes:
•    Attendance at the conference sessions
•    Conference kit
•    Book of abstracts
•    Coffee breaks at the conference

TYPES OF CONTRIBUTIONS
The symposium welcomes the following types of contributions:
•    Oral presentations
•    Posters

SYMPOSIUM LANGUAGES
•    English
•    Spanish
•    Italian
•    German
•    French
Selected papers will be considered for publication in a peer-reviewed volume.

Manuela Laubenberger and Montserrat Claveria

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Kunsthistorisches Museum

Manuela Laubenberger, PhD
Curator, Deputy Director
Greek and Roman Antiquities / Ephesos Museum

T +43 1 525 24 - 4904
M +43 664 605 14 - 4904
manuela.laubenberger@khm.at
www.khm.at

KHM-Museumsverband

Burgring 5, 1010 Vienna, Austria