13 December 2023
Elisabetta Toreno
Synopsis
This talk delves into the representation of women as explained in Elisabetta’s book, Netherlandish and Italian Female Portraiture in the Fifteenth Century: Gender, Identity and the Tradition of Power. Portraits of women increased substantially during this century, especially in the urbanised territories of Italy and Flanders. They illustrate change from the medieval style and responses to a patriarchal society, in which, paradoxically, women were disenfranchised, yet also catalysts for male success, through arranged marriages. These portraits help us reflect on the women’s lives, and suggest new interpretations of female portraiture; women’s active role in the imaging process; and the early instances of a pro-women ideology.
CV
Elisabetta Toreno is a lecturer and scholar in Art & Cultural History and in Philosophy of Art. She teaches at the Open University and has affiliations with the University of Glasgow and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Her current research includes the representation of women in Netherlandish art; women, material culture and epistolary diplomacy in the early sixteenth century; and the fabricated identity of women as devil’s worshippers. Her latest book is due in the spring 2024: co-authored with the philosopher Gary Kemp, it is on the writings of Richard Wollheim, philosopher of art.