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The Ugly Duchess
Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance
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The Ugly Duchess
$4099
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
This work is ideal for readers interested in Renaissance art, satirical portraiture, and cultural history, as well as those fascinated by the intersection of art and societal attitudes towards gender and ageing.
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See moreQuinten Massys’ An Old Woman (‘The Ugly Duchess’) is one of the Renaissance’s most famous faces. In a fresh review of the image, this book unveils the painting’s original context: its status as a pioneering work of satirical art, its debt to da Vinci’s grotesque drawings, and what it tells us about attitudes towards women, age and beauty.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
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Description
An Old Woman (‘The Ugly Duchess’) by Quinten Massys is one of the Renaissance’s most famous faces. In a fresh review of the iconic image, this book unveils the painting’s original context: its status as a pioneering work of satirical art, its debt to Leonardo da Vinci’s grotesque drawings, and what it tells us about the period’s complex attitudes towards women, age, and normative beauty.
The painting and its partner, An Old Man, are parodic portraits that mock the supposed lust and vanity of older women. Yet a closer look also reveals a figure defiantly flouting conventions and a painter subverting artistic expectations.
The publication traces the eventful afterlife and enduring power of this seminal image: how she gained her nickname, The Ugly Duchess, and inspired John Tenniel’s much-loved illustrations of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), capturing the imagination of generations of readers.
Published by National Gallery Global/Distributed by Yale University Press
Exhibition Schedule:
National Gallery, London, 16 March–11 June 2023
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781857096941
Publisher: National Gallery Company Ltd
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 14 March 2023
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: National Gallery Company Ltd
Illustration: 50 illus.
Contributors:
- Contributions by Martin Clayton
- Contributions by Charlotte Wytema
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 229.0mm
Height: 267.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 80
Collections
About the Author
Emma Capron is Associate Curator of Renaissance Painting at the National Gallery, London.
Martin Clayton is Head of Prints and Drawings at the Royal Collection Trust.
Charlotte Wytema is the Simon Sainsbury Curatorial Fellow at the National Gallery, London.
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