Beautiful Monstrosities, Elegant Distortions: The Artifice of Sixteenth-Century Mannerism

This exhibition examines the works of artists employed by European courts in the 16th century, such as the Medici in Florence, French royalty at Fontainebleau, and the Holy Roman Imperial courts in Vienna and Prague. Artists catered to the refined tastes of the European nobility by inventing sublime distortions of the human body, allegorical monsters, and ornamental grotesques. This exhibition is curated by Susan Wegner, associate professor of art history at Bowdoin College, and students from Art History 2240: “Mannerism.”