Allegorical Portrait of
Vittoria della Rovere
as Saint Victoria,
1637/1661, oil on canvas
(Public Domain).
The event will open with remarks by Professo Soulé Déesse, Director of AUR's Fine Arts and Art History programs, and is organized by Professor Flavia De Nicola, Adjunct Professor of Art History.
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This lecture will address female agency and patronage (also known as matronage), as well as female statecraft through a case study of Maria Vittoria Leonora Feltria della Rovere de' Medici (1622-1694), Grand Duchess of Tuscany.
Drawing on her extensive research into the Medici court, Dr. Modesti will examine the strategies Vittoria della Rovere employed as an early modern political leader and patron of the arts and of the cultural and diplomatic arenas in which she exercised her patronage and power.
The Grand Duchess was conscious of her strong leadership role, adopting matronage - in all its diverse manifestations - to achieve her personal, social, cultural and political goals. A cultured and cultivated woman, Vittoria well understood the efficacy of the latest artistic trends and material culture in fashioning her princely status and image of authority.
Particular attention will be given to Vittoria's support of female artists, writers, musicians, and artisans, as this was a major aspect of her governance, her philanthropy and her gendered patronage.
Dr. Adelina Modesti
Dr. Adelina Modesti is Honorary Senior Fellow (Art History and Art Curatorship) at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Internationally recognized for her groundbreaking research and publications exploring female agency and power and on the cultural production, matronage and sociopolitical networks of women in early modern Italy, Adelina has received many awards, including fellowships and grants from the Australian Research Council, Australian and European University Institute Fellowships Association, Australian Academy of the Humanities, Australian Institute of Art History, Renaissance Society of America, and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. She has published widely on the women artists of Bologna and the gendered patronage and networks of the Medici women, with pioneering monographs on Elisabetta Sirani and Vittoria della Rovere, and essays on Lavinia Fontana, Artemisia Gentileschi, and Margherita de' Medici. With Consuelo Lollobrigida she is series editor of the Brepols series Women and Gender in the Arts: New Horizons and together convene the Annual International Women in the Arts Conference (UARK Rome).
Of particular interest for those attending this lecture, Dr. Modesti's in-depth scholarly monograph 'Women’s Patronage and Gendered Cultural Networks in Early Modern Europe: Vittoria della Rovere, Grand Duchess of Tuscany' can be found on Routledge.