Bagnesi Live Lecture: Dr. Victoria Bartels

Dr. Bartels examines the symbolic meaning of arms and armor in men's portraiture, along with the complex role these objects played in Renaissance society.
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Arms and armor in sixteenth-century Italy were no longer reserved for knights, statesmen, or princes. In 1584, for instance, the artist and writer Giovanni Paolo Lomazzo quipped that "merchants and bankers, who have never seen an unsheathed sword...have themselves painted in armor with generals' batons." One of the best ways of encapsulating a militaristic persona was to literally dress the part, however, it would be an oversimplification to suggest that men in this period merely emulated soldiers.

Victoria Bartels holds a PhD in Early Modern European History from the University of Cambridge, where her doctoral research examined the cultural role of arms and armor in Renaissance Florence. Her research interests focus on weaponry, violence, warfare, dress, and contemporary notions of gender. She currently works as an Adjunct Professor at Florida State University in Florence, as well as a Research Fellow on the project “Refashioning the Renaissance: Popular Groups and the Material and Cultural Significance of Clothing in Europe 1550–1650,” funded by the European Research Council.