RSA 2018 Cardinal Portrait programme (original) (raw)
Related papers
Group Portraits of Cardinal Bembo and his Friends in the Wake of Trent
Portrait Cultures of the Early Modern Cardinal, 2021
Despite being primarily famous as a poet and literary theorist, Pietro Bembo’s visual legacy is dominated by images of him as an aged cardinal. The majority of these images of Cardinal Bembo were produced posthumously, and several representations occur in group portraits including cardinals affiliated with Paul III’s programme of ecclesiastical reform; many of these individuals were Bembo’s closest friends at the papal court. Exploring the important place that Bembo assumed within the Roman Curia during his cardinalate, and his association with the group known as the spirituali, this essay will consider how cardinal portraiture could be used to articulate visually a particular agenda of church reform.
Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2019
Duke Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned portraits of his children throughout his reign (1537-1574). The majority depict his second son, Giovanni (1543-1562), and are exceptional because of the inclusion of atypical and often overlooked attributes that distinguish his images from those his siblings and other courtly youth of the mid-fifteenth century. Though some of these portraits have been studied individually, they have not been studied as a group, allowing for new consideration of unique visual choices that depart from contemporary conventions. Giovanni's nine individual childhood portraits capture his transition from a boy in infanzia (age 0-7) bearing arms to a man-child in puerizia (age 7-14) with books. Because Giovanni was positioned from infancy for a dual destiny as a leader of Florence or the Church, his expected trajectory demanded an unusually complex representation through a visual campaign that was crafted to broadcast his exceptional position. The present paper analyzes Giovanni's portraits in comparison to more than 700 portraits of his Italian and European peers. Created in Florence during a period of diplomatic exchange between the Medici and the papal court, these representations of Giovanni as a child present an alternate model of humanist maturity and masculinity, and illustrate an attempt by the Medici to distinguish themselves from other princely families. The critical evaluation of this visual campaign suggests that the Medici developed a formula of representation directed toward the pope, rather than the Holy Roman Emperor, in their desire to use Giovanni as a vehicle to promote Medici power in Rome. Ultimately, these findings indicate that the comparative analysis of one child's portraits in sequence, in addition to their evaluation in isolation, can yield new readings and information about patrons' intentions and the visual conventions of early modern portraiture.
“Arts, Portraits and Representation in the Reformation Era” Bologna, May 15-17, 2014
The Reformation, with its iconoclasm and its emphasis on the preached word of God, has traditionally been seen as an enemy of the arts. During recent decades however, scholarly interest in the relation between confession and arts has been complemented by a growing awareness of the continued importance of images and music within Protestant culture. Addressing both the Protestant and the Catholic traditions, the plenary papers at the conference will explore not only the theological and devotional significance of images and music, but also their role in expressing power and status in early modern Europe.
Reconsidering the origins of portraiture: instead of an introduction
„Journal of Art Historiography”, 17, 2017, s. 1-35, 2017
Chapel, Cracow Cathedral, photo: Wikimedia Commons In 1586, Anne Jagiellon, queen regnant of Poland and grand duchess of Lithuania, the last Polish ruler of the Jagiellon dynasty, sent her portrait in coronation robes from Warsaw to Cracow Cathedral (fig. 1). The portrait was painted shortly after the coronation ceremony and her marriage to Stephen Bathory in the Cracow Cathedral (1 st May 1576) and shows the queen full-length, wearing a crown and holding a sceptre and orb in her hands. Anne is presented here in the full splendour of her royal status: she wears a white dress adorned with bands of golden embroidery with jewels sewn in, and around her neck are a costly pendant and chains made of gold and pearls. The queen's presence, however, is underscored not only through the rendering of the coronation insignia and an emphasis on rich clothing but also through the faithfully depicted countenance that reveals the austere features of her actual appearance. Although the portrait was undoubtedly created with
Portraiture. Facing the Subject, Manchester UP 1997
1996
The first image was a portrait. In classical mytholow, a lovely youth named Narcissus lay beside a pool gazing in adoration at his own reflection. Ignoring the loving attention ofthe nymph Echo, he wasted away, died and was metarnorphosdiintoa flower bearing his name. Another myth tells of the Maid of Corinth who, wishing to capture her lover before their separation, drew around the shadow cast by his head on the wall of a cave. In the Rible, St Veronica compassionat~ly pressed a cloth against Christ's face as he stumbled to Calvary, and found His trite image rniracttlouslv imprinted into the material. Christian legend relates that St Luke k a m e a painter because, having experienced a vision of the Virgin Mary, he was inspired to produce a faithful portrait of her.