THOMAS P. CAMPBELL, ASSOCIATE CURATOR AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, WILL SPEAK AT BARD COLLEGE ON THURSDAY, MARCH 9 "Paintings of Silk and Gold: Magnificence, Propaganda, and Aesthetics in the Tapestries of the Late Medieval and Renaissance Court"
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Medieval Studies Program at Bard College presents a slide presentation and lecture by Thomas P. Campbell, associate curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on Thursday, March 9, at 6:00 p.m. Campbell will speak about the subject of "Paintings of Silk and Gold: Magnificence, Propaganda, and Aesthetics in the Tapestries of the Late Medieval and Renaissance Court." The lecture, free and open to the public, will be held in Room 102 of the F. W. Olin Humanities Building.
When Henry VIII, king of England, died in 1547, he owned more than two thousand tapestries. Placed end to end, the collection would have stretched more than four miles. Each of the finest sets cost more than a thousand pounds, equivalent to the cost of a fully rigged battleship, and far more than the annual income of all but the richest nobles in the country. As much as the physical scale of the royal palaces, gold-woven tapestries were a central element of the display with which the Tudor court overwhelmed contemporary observers. This lecture will consider the role that the tapestry played in the art and propaganda of the courts of Henry VIII and his continental rivals.
Thomas P. Campbell
is a graduate of the Courtauld Institute, London. He is a leading expert in European tapestry and has published widely on the subject. His Ph.D. thesis was on Henry VIII's tapestry collection, and he is currently organizing a large exhibition titled "Tapestry in the Renaissance," which will take place at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the spring of 2002.For further information about the lecture, call 914-758-6822.
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