News@Princeton
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Campus Announcements
Renaissance Coins, Nov. 9
The role that the study of ancient coins played in Renaissance culture will be
examined in an exhibition opening in Firestone Library on Friday, Nov. 9, and a
related symposium that day.
The exhibition of rare books, coins, medals and manuscripts from the University
Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is titled
"Numismatics in the Renaissance" and will be on view in the main gallery of
Firestone. It will feature artifacts from the University Numismatic Collection,
including coins and medals of the Renaissance and the ancient Greek and
Roman coins that inspired them. Also on display will be 15th- and 16th-century
books about ancient coins, drawings from the collections of the University Art
Museum and works of Renaissance literature that are rich in coin imagery.
The opening will be marked with a symposium, "The Rebirth of Antiquity:
Numismatics, Archaeology and Classical Studies in the Culture of the
Renaissance," beginning at 9 a.m. in 101 McCormick Hall. Symposium panels
will feature art and history scholars from several institutions and will be led by
Princeton scholars Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, the Marquand Professor of Art
and Archaeology, and Anthony Grafton, the Henry Putnam University Professor
of History. A full schedule is available at
www.princeton.edu/rbsc/department/numismatics/symposium.html.
A reception for the exhibition opening will follow the symposium at 4:30 p.m. in
Firestone.
"Although ancient coins were found throughout the Mediterranean region in the
millennium following the end of the Roman Empire, it was only in Renaissance
Europe that they began to be studied systematically," said Alan Stahl, curator
of the University Numismatic Collection.
Stahl said the University's collection has fine examples of some of the earliest
printed books to carry engraved illustrations, which feature detailed
reproductions of ancient coinage. Highlights of the exhibition include a
drawing by Italian painter Parmigianino with an image of the goddess Minerva
thought to be derived from an image on Roman coins and a map of ancient
Rome made in 1561 by Italian artist Pirro Ligorio.
The show will run until Sunday, July 20. The library gallery is open from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.
Wednesday, and from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Exhibition tours
will be offered to the public at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, March 16 and June 1.
The exhibition and symposium are free and open to the public, but individuals
must pre-register for symposium by contacting Stahl at (609) 258-9127 or
astahl@princeton.edu.
The symposium is sponsored by the Department of Rare Books and Special
Collections, the Council of the Humanities, the Center for the Study of Books and
Media, the Department of Art and Archaeology, the Department of Classics, the
Program in Hellenic Studies, the Committee for Renaissance Studies and the
Davis Center for Historical Studies. The Friends of the Princeton University
Library will host the reception at the exhibition opening.
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