Trend of the week – The Renaissance is having, well, a renaissance

“The Serpent Queen” about Catherine de”™ Medici ”“ Dowager Queen of France, mother-in-law of Mary, Queen of Scots; and would-be mother-in-law of Elizabeth I of England; and “Becoming Elizabeth,” about the young Elizabeth I ”“ both on Starz.  “The Tudors: Art and Majesty in Renaissance England” (Oct. 10 through Jan. 8 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan). And the recent “The Boleyns: A Scandalous Family” on PBS, about Elizabeth”™s mother, Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII”™s bewitching, doomed second wife. The Renaissance is having a moment ”“ still, as many historians will tell you. 

Locally, “Out of the Kress Vaults: Women in Sacred Renaissance Painting” is on view at the Fairfield University Art Museum Bellarmine Hall Galleries through Dec. 17. The exhibit”¯explores representations of femininity and virtue in Italian Renaissance paintings of the Virgin Mary, female saints and nuns. Ranging from small, devotional images intended for the highly gendered spaces of the Renaissance home to large altarpieces originally on display in churches, these artworks entwine depictions of idealized beauty with messages of virtue and piety, presenting these women as models of virtue and devotion for emulation ”“ and admiration ”“ by their Renaissance viewers. 

This exhibit marks the first time a show has been co-curated with Fairfield University students. Taking inspiration from two paintings of the Madonna and Child in the museum”™s own Samuel H. Kress Collection, students in Michelle DiMarzo”™s art history seminar developed the exhibit by examining Kress collections at other institutions, with an emphasis on works typically held in storage. Lenders to the exhibition include the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Harvard Art Museums and the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami. 

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