Portret van Alessandro Piccolomini c. 1750 - 1800

This is Raimondo Faucci's engraving of Alessandro Piccolomini. We don't know when Faucci made this print, but Piccolomini was Archbishop of Sienna in the mid-16th century. It's interesting to see how Faucci's print uses visual codes to broadcast Piccolomini's status. There's the clothing of a high-ranking church official, of course, but it is the compass in his right hand that is most striking. Geometry was closely associated with classical learning during the Renaissance. As such, the compass associates Piccolomini with the great thinkers of antiquity. This would have held particular resonance in Sienna, where Piccolomini helped found the Accademia degli Intronati. Art historical research into the print collections of institutions can tell us a great deal about the values of past societies. Visual codes are often highly contingent on social and institutional context.