04/06/2008 00:36:00
The Renaissance is coming to the National Gallery in London. According to the Guardian, its autumn exhibition will be devoted to Renaissance portraits.
The exhibition, titled Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian, will feature over 70 masterpieces from a range of European countries, from England and Italy to Finland and Germany. It will include paintings from masters such as Botticelli, Belini and Memling, as well as featuring some sculpture, notably Tullio Lombardo's marble bust of a young couple in the guise of Bacchus and Ariadne.
The curator of the exhibition, Susan Foister, told the Guardian that the 15th and 16th centuries represented a period of great artistic vibrancy, where painters burst upon the scene with a fascination for human likeness. She added:
"They not only acquired the techniques to do it, but also the intellectual liberation required to think about what it meant to be an individual."
The motivations and inspiration responsible for the portraits of the Renaissance - which typically document key life moments such as courtship, marriage and death - will be examined by the exhibition. A particular highlight of the programme will be the reunion of Van Eyck's renowned 1433 self portrait with his portrait of his wife for the first time since the 18th century.
Opening to the public on October 15, the show is expected to attract large crowds. Last month the Hayward Gallery marked its 40th anniversary with a new exhibition, Psycho Buildings: Artists take on Architecture.