Bowdoin College Museum of Art
Past Exhibitions
Beauty and Duty: The Art and Business of Renaissance Marriage
- Mar 27, 2008 – Jul 27, 2008
- Bernard and Barbro Osher Gallery
- Halford Gallery
Click image to enlarge…
A colorful Italian painting in the Museum’s collection, depicting nymphs, goddesses, a love-struck shepherd, and his worried parents, inspired this exhibition. The painting once ornamented an early fifteenth-century Florentine wooden marriage chest (cassone) and interpreted scenes from Giovanni Boccaccio’s epic and seductive romance, The Nymphs of Fiesole. The painted cassone would have been proudly displayed in the bride’s public procession to her new home.
The exhibition’s paintings, sculptures, furniture, medals, prints, and books, from Bowdoin’s collections and beyond, open the window to the historic context of marriage in Renaissance Italy. Collectively they provide insights into Renaissance views on the nature of men and women; suggest the virtues of chastity, courage, and moderation; and present young noble men and women whose arranged marriages were intended to strengthen military alliances and stabilize governments by providing heirs.
Curated by Associate Professor of Art History Susan E. Wegner, Beauty and Duty: The Art and Business of Renaissance Marriage examines the manner in which art played a vital role in the rituals and celebrations of Renaissance marriage. The exhibition includes loans from museums and libraries around the country. The project is supported by grants from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Robert Lehman Foundation, the Cowles Charitable Trust, and the Fisher Charitable Foundation of Maine. Publication available.
Exhibition Activities
Pictured above:
Recently proposed attribution to Fra Angelico, Italian, 1395/1400-1455, Scenes from Boccaccio's "Il Ninfale Fiesolano", tempera on panel, Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, 1961.100.1
