Mary Beard in conversation with Tim Gunn - Twelve Caesars New York Public Library Virtual Event

Mary Beard in conversation with Tim Gunn - Twelve Caesars New York Public Library Virtual Event

Tuesday, Mar 15, 2022 6:30 AM

Location:
NYPL on Zoom

From the bestselling author of "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome,” comes the fascinating story of how images of Roman autocrats have influenced art, culture, and the representation of power for more than 2,000 years.

Princeton University Press and the New York Public Library invite you to join Mary Beard for a free virtual discussion of her book, “Twelve Caesars: Images of Power from the Ancient World to the Modern,” on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, at 6:30 PM (EST). Beard will appear in conversation with self-professed book addict Tim Gunn about her story of some of the most challenging and disturbing portraits of power ever created.

Reserve your spot via the registration link below.

Order a copy of “Twelve Caesars” from A Cappella Books via the purchase link.

About the Book

What does the face of power look like? Who gets commemorated in art and why? And how do we react to statues of politicians we deplore? In this book—against a background of today’s “sculpture wars”—Mary Beard tells the story of how for more than two millennia portraits of the rich, powerful, and famous in the western world have been shaped by the image of Roman emperors, especially the “Twelve Caesars,” from the ruthless Julius Caesar to the fly-torturing Domitian. ”Twelve Caesars” asks why these murderous autocrats have loomed so large in art from antiquity and the Renaissance to today, when hapless leaders are still caricatured as Neros fiddling while Rome burns.

Beginning with the importance of imperial portraits in Roman politics, this richly illustrated book offers a tour through 2,000 years of art and cultural history, presenting a fresh look at works by artists from Memling and Mantegna to the nineteenth-century American sculptor Edmonia Lewis, as well as by generations of weavers, cabinetmakers, silversmiths, printers, and ceramicists. Rather than a story of a simple repetition of stable, blandly conservative images of imperial men and women, ”Twelve Caesars” is an unexpected tale of changing identities, clueless or deliberate misidentifications, fakes, and often ambivalent representations of authority.

From Beard’s reconstruction of Titian’s extraordinary lost Room of the Emperors to her reinterpretation of Henry VIII’s famous Caesarian tapestries, ”Twelve Caesars” includes fascinating detective work and offers a gripping story of some of the most challenging and disturbing portraits of power ever created.

About the Author

Mary Beard is one of the world’s leading classicists and cultural commentators. A specialist in Roman history and art, she is professor of classics at the University of Cambridge and the author of bestselling and award-winning books, including ”SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome” and ”Women and Power: A Manifesto”. She has also written and presented many television programs, from ”Civilisations” and ”Meet the Romans” to ”The Shock of the Nude.” She lives in Cambridge, England.

About the Conversation Partner

Tim Gunn is the Emmy Award winning co-host of a new global fashion competition, ”Making the Cut,” an Amazon original series premiering in 2020 on Prime Video. He is the former co-host of the first 16 seasons of ”Project Runway,” which first aired in 2004. A New York Times bestselling author, his 4th book, ”The Natty Professor,” was released in 2015 and chronicles his 29 years as an educator. Gunn spent 24 of those years as a teacher and administrator at Parsons School of Design, the last seven of which he served as chair of the department of fashion design.