NextThreeDays: Event Display

B. Scott Crawford Lecture Series: Physiognomy and Portraiture
Venue: Alexander Black House & Cultural Center, Blacksburg
Directions: Google Map Link
Date: Thursday, March 20, 2025
Time: 5:30 - 6:30 PM
Event Types: Arts & Theatre, Speaking Engagements
Cost: Free

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Description:
The Blacksburg Museum & Cultural Foundation continues the B. Scott Crawford Lecture Series titled "A Wise man will Find us to be Rogues by our Face: Physiognomy and Portraiture" on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at the Alexander Black House & Cultural Center.

We are thrilled to welcome B. Scott Crawford to our museum for a new lecture series! His expertise on art and history makes for compelling theories and conjures up new questions about the world in which we live.

His second talk is titled "A Wise man will Find us to be Rogues by our Face”: Physiognomy and Portraiture".

Johnathan Swift’s observation about the relationship between character and physical features sums up an important comment of Western art. From the Ancient World into the 21st century, to varying degrees, the belief that physical features indicate clear and even irrefutable clues as to a person’s character influenced portraiture. Exploring Ancient statues and a host of Medieval and Renaissance paintings, as well as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, the impact this pseudo-science, physiognomy, had on art and portraiture will be highlighted.

Taking this overview as a starting point, Santi di Tito’s late 17th century portrait of Machiavelli will be examined through this physiognomic lens in order to better understand di Tito’s posthumous representation of the controversial philosopher and gain insight into Machiavelli’s work The Prince. This original research will provide both an understanding of physiognomy and a new understanding of at least one reason Machiavelli has been viewed as scandalous.

B. Scott Crawford holds a master’s degree in history from Old Dominion University and has an extensive background in education, having taught at the high school and college levels, as well as serving as the social studies coordinator, K-12, for a Virginia school division and as the Director of Education for the Museum of Western Virginia and then Taubman Museum of Art in Roanoke, Virginia. Scott currently serves as President & CEO for Virginia 811.

Admission is free and all are welcome.

The Alexander Black House & Cultural Center is located at 204 Draper Road in Blacksburg, VA.

To view the event flyer, visit: https://i.postimg.cc/L668QN4t/image.png.

For more information, visit: https://blacksburgmuseum.org/event/3188/ or https://www.facebook.com/blacksburgmuseum/ or https://www.facebook.com/events/587394117331179/ or https://www.instagram.com/blacksburgmuseum/ or call 540-558-0746.