Sacred Bones and Talking Heads: the Mystery of the Reliquaries from the Court of Charles V of Spain

Michele Marincola, Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University

Join NYU professor and Sandisfield resident Michele Marincola, a specialist in the conservation and technical study of medieval works of art, as she introduces a curious group of early sixteenth-century head reliquaries once owned by the courtiers of the Hapsburg Emperor Charles V of Spain. Where were these reliquaries made and how did they end up in Spain? Who do they represent? How were they made? And whatever is that inside of them? Michele Marincola is Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor of Conservation of the Conservation Center at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She is also managing conservator for NYU’s Acton Collection at Villa La Pietra in Florence, Italy. Before joining the university she was Conservator for The Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art for many years.