Organization
Organized by Monett Reißig, Alysée Le Druillenec & Jürgen Luh

Argument
In premodern societies, marriage was central to religious, political, and social conflicts and subject to continuous transformation. As a key institution of social order, it regulated property and inheritance through family networks, structured kinship strategies, consolidated social status, and mediated access to resources.

The summer school marks the follow-up to the highly productive event held in Paris in September 2025. Thanks to the Potsdam Research Center Sanssouci’s commitment to join our initiative, we are delighted to bring the the initiative across the Rhine — both geographically and confessionally, to continue this fruitful exploration of marriage as a complex junction of theology, law, art, and social practice in early modern Europe across the disciplines.

As joint initiative of the Department of Cultural History at the Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), the Art History Department at the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, and the Stiftung Preußische Schlösser und Gärten (SPSG), the event fosters a multidisciplinary approach from different profession areas, convening curators, historians, theologians, art historians, and art restorers. Examining marriage as both a theological construct and a socio-political institution between 1400 and 1800, we will explore how confessionalization and shifts in matrimonial regulation shaped Christian anthropology, legal norms, and cultural practices. A comparative perspective will shed light on specific developments of marriage within Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions, interrogating tensions between legal and theological norms and social realities. The exploration of nuptial traditions, cultures, rituals, and performativity will further open perspectives on matrimonial unions as means of dynastic consolidation and confessional negotiation.

Beyond its theological and institutional dimensions, marriage has historically operated as a structuring dispositive of social and sexual norms, defining gendered roles and disciplining desire. Drawing on gender studies, church history, theology, and intersectional historiography, the panels and workshops will particularly address gendered power structures and the regulation of bodies, offering new perspectives on marriage as a governing instrument — one assigning specific role to women and framing sexual practices within a broader logic of moral and social order.

The programme combines lectures, discussions, and site visits to locations of religious, artistic, and political significance. The event will be conducted in English, with French and German as auxiliary languages of work and mediation.

contact : summerschool_marriage26 chez posteo.eu

Programme
REPRESENTATION
Monday 31st August
Neues Palais, Potsdam

9:00 - Jürgen LUH (RECS) : Welcome to Postdam Palaces and Gardens
10:00 – Curator-led tour with Franziska WINDT (SPSG) : Guido Reni, Lucca Giordani and Artemisia Gentileschi on Marriage
12:30 – WELCOME LUNCH

Universität Potsdam

14:30 – Monett REIßIG (Europa-Universität, Viadrina) & Alysée LE DRUILLENEC (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) : Toward a Broader Iconological Approach. Thematic and Epistemological introduction

15h30 – JENNY MEIER (HU Berlin) & KATHARINA MENDL (University of Applied Arts Vienna) : “Made from one mould…“ Ties, Unity and Truth in the Practical Arts of Restoration and Conservation

TRANSLATION
Tuesday 1st September
Universität Potsdam

09:00 – Katherine APOSTOLACUS (Villanova University) : Marriage. Natural Sacrament
10:00 – Martin LOTTERMOSER (TU Dresden) : At Table with Christ. Orthodoxy, Art Patronage and the Ambition of the Cuccina Family for Social Advancement in Veronese’s Wedding at Cana
11:00 – Saskia JORDAN (London Courtauld Institute of Art) : In the Middle of the Trousseau : the Christ Child Statue as a Site of Female Agency in Renaissance Marriage
12:00 – Alysée LE DRUILLENEC (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) : Beatus Hermann-Joseph Christophorus, First Example of Mystical Marriage
13:00 – Lunchbreak

Marmorpalais, Potsdam

14:30 – Curator-Led Tour with Matthias SIMMICH (SPSG)
NEGOTIATION
Wednesday 2nd September
Sanssouci Gardens, Potsdam

10:00 – Curator-led Tour with Steffen TERVOOREN (SPSG)
12 :30 – LUNCHBREAK

Universität POTSDAM

14:00 – Alix BUISSERET (Université Libre de Bruxelles) : Princely Widows as Cultural Agents. Margaret of Austria, Regent, and Art Patron in Savoy around 1500
15:00 – Pascal FIRGES (Universität Basel) : French Affairs ? Marriage, Mistresses, and the Court Society in Early Modern Imagination
16:00 – COFFEE BREAK

16:30 – Monett REIßIG (Europa-Universität, Viadrina) : Princely Spouses in the ‘Mirror’ : Beauty, Marital Coherion and Dynastic Fortune in the European Spiegelliteratur
17:30 – Eva SEEMANN (German Historical Institute Paris) : Brides for the Colonies. Migration Projects in the French Atlantic Colonies during the Early Modern Period
MEDIATION
Thursday, 3rd September
Bode Museum, Berlin

10:00 – Curator-Led Tour with Alexander RÖSTEL (Bode Museum)
12 :30 – LUNCHBREAK

Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin

14:30 – Curator-Led Tour with Jürgen LUH (RECS) & Theresa KHAN (Universität Potsdam)
INTEGRATION
Friday, 4th September
Neues Palais, Potsdam

10:00 – Final conclusion with Jürgen LUH (SPSG) : The Palace as a Guest House
12:30 – FAREWELL LUNCH