Riva Mikhlin ’25 (Economics, Mathematics, Art History) represented Santa Clara University’s Art and Art History Department at the 2024 Bay Area Undergraduate Art History Symposium, held at the University of San Francisco on April 20.
Riva presented her paper “Papal Politics and the Portrait of a Samurai: Hasekura Tsunenaga in Rome.” She argued that, by presenting a visiting samurai through the European visual language of power, while also including identifiably Japanese elements, the portrait appears familiar enough to be intelligible to a European audience, and foreign enough to illustrate the reach of the Pope’s authority. Riva was joined by representatives from USF, San Jose and Sonoma State Universities, Stanford University, Saint Mary’s College, University of California, Berkeley, and California College of the Arts. Two graduate students from UC Berkeley responded to the papers and moderated a Q and A. A reception followed the event.