Madonna della Seggiola by Italian artist Santi Corsi Photo: Stetson University/ Ciara Ocasio
Framing History For more than a century, a portrait of Stetson’s past has traveled from the famed Pitti Palace in Italy to campus and now on the office wall of the university’s newest dean. BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA 22
STETSON | Spring 2020
If a picture, as the saying goes, is worth a thousand words, what about a frame? This is no ordinary frame, either. As detailed by Robert C. Dean, MD, in a December 2018 email to the President’s Office at Stetson, this frame represents a university tale across centuries. Dean, of nearby New Smyrna Beach, emailed to assess the interest of President Wendy B. Libby, PhD, in his “donation of a piece of art with strong historical connections” to Stetson. Libby subsequently accepted the donation on behalf of the university, and the framed painting now can be seen on campus. Yet, that’s not the real story. Not the story that dates back to the 1880s.
