To rule, to amass followers, or to impose one’s will, power and authority need to be communicated, sometimes explicitly, but often by symbolic and nonlinguistic means. This course seeks to trace the visual vocabulary and symbolic syntax employed to communicate charisma, authority and leadership from the Imperial cults of ancient Egypt and Rome, through medieval saints’ cults, to modern-day celebrities.

This course explores the visual grammar and sources that combine to create, establish, and maintain many different forms of authority across two millennia of western history, by analyzing the visual components and mechanisms that shape and legitimize the exercise of power and the establishment of authority, whether it be political, spiritual, or commercial.

We will explore the universal codes and conventions for displaying power and authority, and how historical and cultural specificities, as well as gender differences, alter those visual strategies. To do so we will examine case studies ranging from the cult of the Roman emperors to medieval divinely-appointed kingships, from propaganda depictions of totalitarian leaders to representations of democratic leadership, from depictions of artistic and intellectual genius to modern-day celebrity images. We will also lean on interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to charisma and authority ranging from social sciences to celebrity studies.