Talk: Patronage in the Court of Urbino

Federico da Montefeltro made a major contribution to the enlightened culture of the Italian Renaissance and brought stability to his ducal state of Urbino. A successful military commander, he was also a patron of the arts, who supported the development of painters and commissioned architectural projects. Portraits of the duke show him in profile, partly hiding the disfigurement of his face: he lost his right eye during a tournament and subsequently had the bridge of his nose surgically removed. Nick Ross discusses the duke’s legacy – do we remember him for his artistic patronage, or for the shape of his nose?

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