
The Ugly Duchess
Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance
Emma Capron(Author)
National Gallery Company Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 14. March 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
80 pages
978-1-85709-694-1 (ISBN)
Description
Quinten Massys' An Old Woman ('The Ugly Duchess') 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
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
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
50 illus.
Dimensions
Height: 270 mm
Width: 230 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
457 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85709-694-1 (9781857096941)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
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.
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.