From Rembrandt’s masterful Hundred Guilder Print to a colossal marble portrait of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, Learning to See brings together prints, drawings, and sculptures that explore intellectual and spiritual currents of European culture in the 15th-17th centuries. Subjects included in the exhibition range from mythology and mythical beings to traditional Christian themes. Prints and sculptures are presented together, uniting seemingly dissimilar works across time and techniques while exploring a variety of themes. Devotional works of art demonstrate the vital role that prints and sculpture played in the early modern church. Other sections feature objects representing the body, both nude and clothed, and works that reveal the technical aspects involved in the sculpting of terracotta and bronze.
Rembrandt, (1606–1669), Christ Preaching (The Hundred Guilder Print), 1648
Promised gift of Phoebe Dent Weil and Mark S. Weil
The exhibition celebrates the promised gift to the Museum of over 150 works of art assembled by Phoebe Dent Weil and Mark S. Weil, an art conservator and a professor of art history respectively. The collection reflects their passion and deep knowledge of European art of the 15th to 18th centuries. Featured in this presentation are rare early Italian Renaissance engravings, extraordinary groups of prints by Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt van Rijn, as well as fine examples of Renaissance terracottas and bronzes.
Catalogue
A fully illustrated, color catalog with essays by Museum Curators Elizabeth Wyckoff, curator of prints, drawings, and photographs; and Judith Mann, curator of European art to 1800 will be available for purchase in the Museum Shops.