Portraits and Masks in the Art of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Botticelli, and Politian's Stanze per la Giostra

The subject of my lecture is the phenomenon of masking in the Florence of Lorenzo de' Medici. I begin with an overview of the evidence in favor of the early claims that Lorenzo himself invented the modern masquerade, and continue with an examination of images of Triumphs in art, showing how these evolved into quasi-theatrical displays with masqued participants. I then turn to the phenomenon of masking in the high art of Lorenzo himself Botticelli and Politian. My lecture ends with a consideration of Politian's Stanze per la giostra di Giuliano de’ Medici, claiming that the poem commemorates and interprets the death of Giuliano by showing him to have been deluded by Cupid and by his mother Venus hidden behind the false masks of Pallas and Glory.