Description

Hidden Faces: Covered Portraits of the Renaissance introduces a fascinating but lesser-known aspect of Renaissance portraiture: artworks designed with covers, reverses, protective panels, or paired images that concealed and revealed meanings beyond the visible portrait itself. The book explores how these hidden elements were not merely decorative but played an important role in communicating identity, status, symbolism, and personal values.

The introduction presents Renaissance portraits as complex objects meant to be experienced through discovery. Many portraits from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were created with additional surfaces featuring allegorical imagery, mythological scenes, religious symbols, or personal emblems. These hidden “faces” encouraged viewers to interpret the sitter’s identity through both the visible image and the concealed artwork.