European Visual Culture Seminar
Solidarity, Betrayal, and Opportunism: Deluxe Manuscript Production for Two High-Status Couples in Renaissance Florence
Hugh Hudson
Fols 13v–14 of the Strozzi-Acciaioli Book of Hours, MS Felton 869–5, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Image: National Gallery of Victoria.
This paper will discuss two deluxe Florentine Renaissance manuscripts in Melbourne collections, the manuscript containing the Scriptores historiae Augustae in the State Library of Victoria, and the Strozzi-Acciaioli Hours in the National Gallery of Victoria, interpreting their heraldry, emblems, inscriptions, and texts, as well as archival evidence, to describe the circumstances surrounding their commissions. It has been possible in the case of the former manuscript to identify more reliable evidence for the original owners, Lorenzo de’ Medici and Clarice Orsini, than in previous studies. In the latter case it has been possible to identify the more likely original owners as Benedetto Strozzi and Caterina Acciaioli, than those suggested to date. The approach taken is also broader than in previous studies, in particular looking at the significance these manuscripts might have had for the families—as well as individuals—that owned them. This wider focus reveals themes of family solidarity, betrayal, and opportunism in the circumstances that led to the manuscripts’ commissions. The broader approach also has the benefit of creating a little more scope for addressing the significance of women in the social context surrounding the commissioning and use of secular and religious deluxe manuscripts in Renaissance Florence.
Date: Monday 15th October 2012, 6:30pm
Venue: Jim Potter Room, Old Physics Building, University of Melbourne, Parkville campus.
Click here for a map. All Welcome.
Drinks and nibbles provided for the seminar: gold coin donation appreciated.
The EVCS is brought to you by the Melbourne Art Network with the support of the Art History Programs at the University of Melbourne and at La Trobe University.