When the papacy followed Pope Clement V from Rome to Avignon, France, in the early 14th century, it had a profound impact on Rome’s politics, architecture, and overall culture. These changes, in particular the way that Roman baronial families filled the void left by the papacy, were among the topics discussed in a guest lecture last semester at Wesleyan University by Trinity’s Kristin A. Triff, associate professor of fine arts.

Triff was invited by two faculty members from Wesleyan to deliver a lecture to their first-year seminar students. Students in the two courses, “Baroque Rome” and “The Roman Family,” were brought together for a lecture about the powerful Orsini family, whose rise and fall during the late Middle Ages and Renaissance in Rome was mirrored in the evolution of its palace complex at Monte Giordano.

The lecture, based on Triff’s upcoming book, The Orsini Palace at Monte Giordano: Patronage and Public Image in Renaissance Rome, served as a bridge between the two seminar courses. “The Roman Family” focused on the institution of the family in Rome and its structure. Meanwhile, “Baroque Rome” was an inclusive look at life, art, and culture in Rome during the Baroque period. Students from both courses, she said, were able to participate in a conversation about the Orsini family and its palace, each contributing to a lively picture of a city in transition.

“Having more first-year seminars ‘talk’ to each other here at Trinity would be fantastic,” Triff added. “To have viable links that are content driven would further strengthen our first-year program and promote more creative synergy among our incoming students.”

Triff’s research examines the Orsini family’s impact on Rome’s social history and palace culture. In particular, her lecture focused on the topic of patronage in Rome and how the Orsini family used it to maintain its status. She also explored the ways that the papacy’s 1420 return to Rome affected the city’s baronial culture and led to the Orsini family’s decline.

At Trinity, Triff teaches art and architectural history in addition to being acting director of the art history program and the faculty coordinator of the Rome study-abroad program. She endeavors to bring a focus on visual literacy to her teaching, as she did in her guest lecture at Wesleyan.

“It is important that we engage with the arts, whether visual arts, music, dance,” she said. “They’re each important and eloquent markers of individual cultures. That’s how we reveal ourselves.”