Beautiful Monstrosities, Elegant Distortions: The Artifice of Sixteenth-Century Mannerism

Dates:

April 12, 2016 - June 5, 2016

Location:

Becker Gallery

Selected Works

"David Cutting Off the Head of Goliath" (after Giulio Romano), 1540, engraving by Giovanni Battista Scultori. Gift of Judith Keenan.

"Sea Monster with a Water Fowl in its Mouth," 1580–1610, engraving by Giovanni Andrea Maglioli, Italian, ca. 1580-1610. Museum Purchase.

"The Entombment," etching by Parmigianino, Italian, 1503–1540. Gift of David P. Becker, Class of 1970, in honor of Katharine J. Watson.

"Allegory of Peace", 1573–1580, pen and black ink, grey wash over black chalk, by Friedrich Sustris, Dutch, ca. 1540–ca. 1599. Bequest of the Honorable James Bowdoin III

About

This exhibition examines the works of artists employed by European courts in the 16th century, such as the Medici in Florence, French royalty at Fontainebleau, and the Holy Roman Imperial courts in Vienna and Prague. Artists catered to the refined tastes of the European nobility by inventing sublime distortions of the human body, allegorical monsters, and ornamental grotesques. This exhibition is curated by Susan Wegner, associate professor of art history at Bowdoin College, and students from Art History 2240: “Mannerism.”

Programming

Gallery Conversation with art historian Susan Wegner

April 12, 2016 | 12:00 noon | Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Susan Wegner, associate professor of art history, will lead a discussion in the exhibition Beautiful Monstrosities, Elegant Distortions: The Artifice of Sixteenth-Century Mannerism.

Thursday Night Salon: "Beautiful Monstrosities, Elegant Distortians"

May 12, 2016 | 7:00 p.m. Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Susan Wegner, associate professor of art history, and students from her course in Mannerism lead a discussion in the exhibition Beautiful Monstrosities, Elegant Distortions: The Artifice of Sixteenth-Century Mannerism.