Renaissance artists transformed the course of western art history by making the nude central to their art. Drawing inspiration from classical sculpture and the study of the live model, these artists created lifelike, vibrant, and sensual representations of the human body. Featuring more than 100 works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Dürer, and others, this exhibition traces the nude’s gradual emergence over 130 years in Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Among the exhibited works by Northern artists are Jan Gossaert’s Christ on the Cold Stone (Seminario de Corpus Christi de Valencia—Museo del Patriarca. Colegio del Patriarca), illustrations by the Limbourg Brothers in the Belles Heures of the Duke of Berry, Jean Fouquet’s Virgin and Child (KMSKA, Antwerp), and Two Witches by Hans Baldung Grien (Städel Museum, Frankfurt). For more information, see the Getty website.

Conference and catalogue

The exhibition is accompanied by a conference on 13 January 2019 (from 10am-5pm) at The Getty Center. The conference will address representations of the unclothed human body outside of Europe during the period ca. 1400-1700, complementing The Renaissance Nude. Speakers include scholars in the field of African, South Asian (India), Japanese, Persian, Incan and Mayan art.  To register and for more information, contact Andrea Herrera (AHerrera@getty.edu).

The exhibition catalogue (hardcover, 432 pages) is edited by Thomas Kren with Jill Burke and Stephen J. Campbell.