Coronation of Emperor Othon celebrated in San Ambrogio, Milan 1625 - 1675

Curator: Here we have Jacopo Cotta's "Coronation of Emperor Othon celebrated in San Ambrogio, Milan," likely created sometime between 1625 and 1675. It's currently held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: My first thought is – drama! Look at the sheer density of figures and how light is used to emphasize key characters within the space. It feels like a tightly choreographed dance of power. Curator: Exactly! It is a riot of textures, too, isn’t it? The smoothness of the paper contrasts incredibly with the detail Cotta achieved using engraving—it's almost tactile! The etched lines bring a weight and presence, like the moment itself has been pressed permanently into this sheet. Editor: Speaking of material presence, those halberds the guards are holding. One thinks of the labor required to forge each head, the socio-economic systems that fed and clothed those soldiers and provided the resources for the print itself. There are different systems of making art colliding right on this plane, creating, literally, social status. Curator: Absolutely, that tension is palpable, though to me this print resonates beyond mere historical record. Doesn’t it speak to our own relationships with power, the spectacle and performance of authority in all its forms? Even with a removed scene, one is not able to truly disentangle from one's place in these arrangements of deference and value. Editor: Cotta is cleverly indicting spectacle by showing how reliant even coronations are on materiality. The garments on each man are, simply put, constructed, and contribute, both figuratively and literally, to each man’s position within this imperialist performance. He presents us with a portrait not just of an emperor but of imperial practices of making meaning. Curator: He leaves you wondering— what happens after this orchestrated moment? Where does power truly lie once the crowns are off? Or has the making already made a self-fulfilling emperor? The way Cotta renders those faces... the etching hints at the toll it all takes. There is weariness amidst the ceremony. Editor: Ultimately, what stays with me is the thought of all of the many workshops that made such occasions happen, and whether the skilled labor put into creating such symbols are more valuable than the objects of the empire they are celebrating. Curator: It's as if he invites us to examine the making of a legend. I hope visitors leave pondering how these stories of power—historical or contemporary— are manufactured, consumed, and perhaps, one day, reimagined.