A conversation with Prof. Silvia Giorgi, NYU Florence and Prof. Marilena Caciorgna, Università di Siena. (Reserved to NYU Students and Faculty only).
This talk focuses on the iconographic interpretation of the Venetian mural cycle in the Rotonda of Villa La Pietra. Art Historian Marilena Caciorgna, an expert on female symbolism in art, will discuss issues of iconography, symbolism and meaning in relation to this splendid Rococo cycle attributed to Morlaiter. This sequence of frescoes, transferred from their original setting and moved to Villa La Pietra in the 20th century, is now placed on canvas. The five love depictions, whose main theme seems to be the abduction as synonymous of erotic love, are mostly inspired by ancient sources. However, the various mythological subjects (some of which selected from Ovid’s Metamorphoses) are mysteriously entwined with allegorical themes and domesticity scenes. Caciorgna’s investigation, which will explore the symbolic function of gender roles during one of the Italian art historical periods, the “Enlightenment” age, wishes to stimulate NYU Florence students to explore the issues of gender and power in the European context.
In connection with the Picturing Women series.
Museum Meetings is a cycle of conversations in art spaces dedicated to various aspects of art and museums in Florence: collecting, display, art techniques, iconography, conservation, and the role of museums in society today. The program originates from the Acton collection and expands to other art spaces in the city.