Leicester academic contributes expertise to major portrait exhibition
'Portrait of a Young Woman' by Giovanni Battista Moroni (image: Clark Art Institute)
Eye to Eye: Portraits 1450-1850 will be on show at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts from 23 January to 27 March 2011. The 30 exhibits brought together for the exhibition include works by Rubens, Van Dyck, de Ribera and Parmigianino.
One of the most exciting pictures is 'Portrait of a Young Woman' painted in the late 1560s by Fiovanni Battista Moroni, one of the finest Italian portrait painters of that era, which has never before been publicly exhibited. Several of the other works featured in the full colour exhibition catalogue are appearing in print (auction catalogues notwithstanding) for the first time.
In his catalogue essay Professor Ekserdjian, who is also a trustee of the National Gallery in London, makes the point that, for all that the Renaissance saw great advances in European art, actually the tradition of realistic portraiture came to Europe much later than elsewhere:
'The Clark' combines its museum role with a second function as a major art research facility. The gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday and is free to visit until the end of May.
