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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2020
In 1433, Lorenzo Valla attacked contemporary jurisprudence with a treatise attributed to the civilian lawyer Bartolus of Saxoferrato, the “De insigniis et armis.” This was considered Europe's first treatise on heraldry until a team of legal historians questioned its subject matter and authenticity. Meanwhile, visual culture continues to be seen as peripheral to Valla's critical agenda. This article proposes that Valla engaged images as manifestations of social authority and historical change. His epistle against Bartolus participates in an intellectual history of intersections between philology, antiquarianism, and the anthropology of images in which heraldry has been defined.
The lines of inquiry pursued here came together after a stimulating semester at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz and its Minerva Research Group, dedicated to visual culture and the law. I am grateful to Carolin Behrmann, Valérie Hayaert, Stefan Huygebaert, Felix Jäger, and Alessandro Nova for those experiences. I also thank Frank Bezner, Déborah Blocker, Christopher S. Celenza, and my anonymous reviewers for helping me to improve the article at several stages.