ABOUT THE LECTURE

A lecture by Eveline Baseggio Omiccioli, PhD. Refreshments to follow.

Why do some artworks rise to the level of masterpieces? How are they capable to attract highly educated scholars as well as people with little or no background in art history? In what consists their allure and why do we feel drawn to them? This lecture is going to address these questions and to examine the reasons why some works of art stand out.

The discussion will focus on two world-renowned paintings, respectively the Mona Lisa portrayed by Leonardo da Vinci in the Renaissance and the Girl with A Pearl Earring depicted by Johannes Vermeer during the Baroque. Born two centuries apart (1452 versus 1632), in countries distant from one another – Italy and the Dutch Republic – Leonardo and Vermeer pursued different lives and career paths, yet they are somehow akin as they created timeless masterpieces that still fascinate the modern viewer. Not coincidentally, Vermeer’s young woman has been defined as “the Mona Lisa of the North.” Together we will discover what these two women have in common and the secrets of their success. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Eveline Baseggio Omiccioli is a native of Treviso and studied Art History at Ca’Foscari University in Venice. She received her doctorate in Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art at Rutgers University (NJ) with a dissertation on Venetian Renaissance sculpture. She is currently teaching at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where her classes on the History of Western Art & Civilization, Renaissance Art, and Baroque Art draw attention to a global and cross-cultural context. Dr. Baseggio has worked extensively in a number of art museums in New York and New Jersey, name the Morgan Library & Museum, The Frick Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Zimmerli Art Museum.