Tyranny of the Façade: A Lecture by John Beldon Scott

MOUNT VERNON — John Beldon Scott, Elizabeth M. Stanley professor of arts at the University of Iowa, will lecture on the topic “Tyranny of the Façade: Interpreting Roman Baroque Architecture,” Wednesday, February 13, 7 p.m. McWethy Hall, room 222.

Scott received his Ph.D from Rutgers University. His research and instruction focuses on the art and architecture of early modern Italy. He is author of Images of Nepotism: The Painted Ceilings of Palazzo Barberini (Princeton, 1991) and Architecture of the Shroud: Relic and Ritual in Turin ( Chicago, 2003). The latter was awarded the 2004 College Art Association Charles Rufus Morey Prize.

“With the possible exception of the grandiose ruins of antiquity, no architectural image impresses itself on the eyes of the contemporary visitor to Rome than the monumental church façades of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,” said Scott. “This achievement, so carefully calculated by the patrons and architects of the period, has had some problematic consequences for the attempt to gain a wider, more balanced view of architectural production.”

“The lecture aims to address the hegemony of the façade in scholarly discourse, to propose alterative ways to interpret churches, and to advocate a more inclusive appreciation of non-elite buildings,” he said.

Scott has been a fellow at the American Academy in Rome, the National Humanities Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the Stanford Humanities Center.

This lecture is sponsored by the Cornell College Department of Art and funded through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. Admission is free and open to the public.