Diocletian's Palace in the works of Adam, Clérisseau and Cassas - Conference organized by Institute of Art History – Cvito Fiskovic Centre Split

Scientific Committee: Josko Belamaric (Institute of Art History – Centre Cvito Fiskovic Split) Milan Pelc (Institute of Art History Zagreb) Pierre Pinon (ENSA de Paris-Belleville, École de Chaillot, Institut national d'Histoire de l'Art Paris) John A. Pinto (Princeton University) Ana Sverko (Institute of Art History – Centre Cvito Fiskovic Split)

Organizing Committee: Josko Belamaric, Milan Pelc, Ana Sverko
Assistants: Marina Horvat, Ivana Tadic

The international conference entitled Diocletian's palace in the works of Adam, Clérisseau and Cassas – Split, November 26-29, 2014, organized by the Institute of Art History, arises out of the installation research project Dalmatia – a destination of European Grand Tour in the 18th and the 19th century (2014-2017) of the Institute of Art History, under the aegis of the Croatian Science Foundation. The conference is financed by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports and the City of Split. Researchers from several countries responded to the invitation to explore the role of Diocletian's Palace in the work of Robert Adam, Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Louis-François Cassas, as well as the influence of Diocletian's Palace on the development of European neo-classicism.

The papers are divided into four groups. The section subtitled Reading the Place brings together papers primarily devoted to the ways in which the space is understood and recorded in image and word, based on the direct observation of the monuments and their surroundings. Representing the Past collects works in which the emphasis is placed on depictions of Diocletian's Palace as sources for scholarship. From today's perspective, they are an important document concerning the state of the monument of that time. Here there is also a contribution about the only extant specimen of the Livorno edition of Adam's Diocletian's Palace. The group linked by the subtitle Diocletian's Palace and the Adam Style presents works in which there is discussion of the direct influence of Diocletian's Palace on the work of Robert Adam, while Lessons of Diocletian's Palace focuses on the later influences of the works of Adam, Clérisseau and Cassas about the Palace on neo-classicist architecture and culture, as well as on later periods and on the conservation of the Palace itself.

Thursday, November 27 - Split City Museum

1st session - Reading the Place

Moderators: Frances Sands, Milan Pelc

  • 10.30 -  Heather Hyde Minor: Robert Adam as Author
  • 10.55 - Angelo Lorenzi: The Adam's point of view
  • 11.20 - Ana Sverko:  "The view from the Palace is no less beautiful": the context of Diocletian's Palace in the book Ruins of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia
  • 11.45 - Isabelle Warin:  The Ornamentation of Diocletian's Palace in the work of Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827)

12.40 - 13.10 - Discussion 

2nd session - Representing the Past

Moderators: Flora Turner-Vucetic, John A. Pinto

  • 16.00 -  Josko Belamaric: The Split Peristyle as interpreted by Robert Adam
  • 16.25 -  Krasanka Majer Jurisic: The 18th Century graphics of the Porta Ferrea and the Communal square In
  • 16.50 -  Ivan Mirnik, Ante Rendic-Miocevic: Another look at the Livorno edition of Adam's Diocletian's Palace

17.15-17.45 -  Discussion

18.30-19.30 -  Lecture, John A. Pinto: "The most glorious place in the universal world": Rome in the Age of the Grand Tour 

Friday, November 28 - Split City Museum

3rd session -  Diocletian's Palace and the Adam Style

Moderators: Heather Hyde Minor, Ante Rendic-Miocevic

  • 9.30 -  Frances Sands: Reconstructed and in ruins: the influence of Diocletian's Palace within the drawings of Robert Adam
  • 9.55 -  John A. Pinto: "The Beautiful Spirit of Antiquity": Robert Adam and Diocletian's Palace
  • 10.20 -  Colin Thom: 'Spalatro' on Thames: or how Diocletian's Palace inspired Robert Adam's most audacious development – the Adelphi
  • 10.20 -  Elke Katharina Wittich: Variety and elegance. Details of Diocletian's Palace in architectural decorations

10.45-11.15 -  Discussion

12.15 -  4th session: Lessons of Diocletian's Palace

Moderators: Barbara Vujanovic, Fabien Bellat

  • 12.15 -  Annie Gilet: Dessins et gravures du Palais de Dioclétien à Split par Louis-François Cassas (1756-1827), un exercice préparatoire aux relevés des grands sites archéologiques du Levant en 1785
  • 12.40 -  Amanda Green: Experiential Neoclassicism and the Adam 'Revolution' in English Architecture
  • 13.05 -  Stephen Caffey: Imperial Capriccio: The Palace of Diocletian and England's Visual Cultures of Empire

13.30-14.00 -  Discussion 

4th session -  Lessons of Diocletian's Palace

Moderators: Elke Katharina Wittich, Josko Belamaric

  • 16.30 -  Viktor Lorincz: Local Antiquities and Architecture in the 18th Century Central-Europe: The Case of Cardinal Migazzi and I.M.A. Ganneval
  • 16.55 -  Olivia Sara Carli: The influence of Adam, Clérisseau and Cassas on Diocletian's Palace restoration
  • 17.20 -  Fabien Bellat: Stalinists avatars of Diocletian Palace

17.45-18.15 -  Discussion

18.45-19.45 -  Lecture, Ivan Mirnik, Ante Rendic-Miocevic: Sheila Mc Nally and excavations of Diocletian's Palace (1968-75)

Saturday, November 29 - Diocletian's Palace

9.30 – 12.30 -  Walking tour in Diocletian's Palace
12.30-13.30 -  Summary of the Conference