Power, Virtue, Beauty: Portrait Medals of Women
Thu, Nov 17 · 5:30 PM
Art, Design & Architecture Museum, UCSBSanta Barbara Santa Barbara
Power, Virtue, Beauty: Portrait Medals of Women in the Renaissance, lecture by Dr. Davide Gasparotto
Thursday, November 17, 5:30 – 7:00 pmAD&A MuseumFree and open to the public
Gods, Glory & Spirituality Lecture Series Link to event
The commemorative medal has its origins in 15th-century Italy. Several aspects of Italian Renaissance culture led to the rise of the medal: the advancement of casting techniques, the humanist cult of the individual, the revival of classical antiquity, and the related desire to perpetuate personal fame in emulation of the great persons of the ancient world. Through a skillful combination of text and image, the medal celebrates an individual's unique qualities, power, accomplishments, family status, dynastic links, aspirations, beliefs, and significant life events. In this lecture Davide Gasparotto will explore how women were memorialized in Renaissance medals but also how, as patrons, they exploited the medium to foster their personal agendas.
Davide Gasparotto is Senior Curator of Paintings, and Chair, Curatorial Affairs at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles.
The AD&A Museum will be open until 7 pm for guests attending the lecture. For more information, please visit the event page .
Directions and parking: https://museum.ucsb.edu/about/visit/directions
Image: Matto de' Pasti, Isotta degli Atti, ca. 1450. Bronze, 8.39 cm (3-5/16 in). Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, 1957.14.651.a. Image courtesy of National Gallery of Art.