The One with Battista Sforza


Sunday, September 21, 2008

Once upon a time when I was at BYU we played "dress up like an art piece." So I made myself look like Basttista Sforza. Chris took a profile picture of me, I took a picture of Provo and I photoshopped myself into the foreground to look more like the painting. And in case you're interested, here's some info about the painting:

Battista Sforza, 1465-66
Piero della Francesco
Panel, 47 x 33 cm
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

During the Renaissance, profile paintings were the norm. In this depiction of Battista Sforza, Piero della Francesca epitomized the Renaissance ideals of humanism by depicting a women standing high above the background landscape; this suggests wealth and prosperity which was not typical of the average women. Other symbols include the broad forehead as a sign of virtue; women would shave their heads to achieve this look. The ivory skin signifies that she is not a woman of the world, because a woman of the world would have darker tanned skin. Her outfit has an abundance of detail and ornamentation with a focus on fabric, texture, and jewelry - the source of her income. Even her hair is a work of art suggesting she has many maidservants to help her with this tedious work. In this piece Battista becomes an object, or a mode of display. City walls enclose her suggesting women are circumscribed. Piero was considered a master of foreshortening and reality. The Montefeltro family in Urbino was Piero's most generous patron beginning in 1465 and commissioned this painting.

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