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Gallery Talk: A Tiara for the Sultan

Portrait of a man in profile wearing an elaborately decorated helmet-crown topped with a large plume.
Unidentified artist, Italian, Portrait of the Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, c. 1540–50. Woodcut printed from two blocks on three sheets of paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Gift of W. G. Russell Allen, 51.1529.

Gallery Talk

In-Person
Harvard Art Museums
32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

This event does not require registration; see further details below.

Join Talitha Maria G. Schepers, curator of the exhibition Imagine Me and You, for a talk on a large-scale print of Sultan Süleyman (r. 1520–1566) wearing an elaborately decorated helmet-crown. Larger than a papal tiara, the helmet-crown was a symbol of power and legitimacy. Schepers will share how this now-lost object figures into a tale of early 16th-century Habsburg-Ottoman diplomacy. The print is on loan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

This tour is offered in conjunction with the exhibition Imagine Me and You: Dutch and Flemish Encounters with the Islamic World, 1450–1750 (May 18–August 18, 2024).

Led by:
Talitha Maria G. Schepers, Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Curatorial Fellow, Division of European and American Art, and exhibition curator

Please check in with museum staff at the Visitor Services desk in the Calderwood Courtyard to request to join the talk. Talks are limited to 18 people and are available on a first-come, first-served basis; no registration is required.

The Harvard Art Museums are now offering free admission every day, Tuesday through Sunday. Please see the museum visit page to learn about our general policies for visiting the museums.

Support for Imagine Me and You: Dutch and Flemish Encounters with the Islamic World, 1450–1750 is provided by the Stanley H. Durwood Foundation Support Fund and the Melvin R. Seiden and Janine Luke Fund for Publications and Exhibitions. Related programming is supported by the M. Victor Leventritt Lecture Series Endowment Fund.

The Harvard Art Museums are committed to accessibility for all visitors. For anyone requiring accessibility accommodations for our programs, please contact us at am_register@harvard.edu at least 48 hours in advance.