The Curatorial Backlog #9 : The Ugly Duchess : Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance
Artist : Quinten Massys & other artists
Show : The Ugly Duchess : Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance
Location : National Gallery : London, England
Date Seen: 17 April 2023
Price : Free
Run Time: 16 March 2023 - 11 June 2023
Sponsors:
The H J Hyams Exhibition Programme Supported by the Capricorn Foundation
The Government of Flanders - Flanders State of the Art
Curators: Emma Capron, assisted by Charlotte Qytema
The Ugly Duchess : Beauty and Satire in Renaissance centers on Quinten Massys’s painting, An Old Woman, more colloquially known as The Ugly Duchess. This piece is a permanent piece in the National Gallery’s collection and was moved to Room 46 in the gallery along with other works in the archive and on loan from for this exhibition. This exhibition discusses satirical art which began in the Renaissance to make fun of the vanity and lust of older women. It pairs fine artistry and the seriousness of portraiture with explorative distortions of the human face to emphasize the “laughable and immoral” to deride and vilify older women with the foolish hag trope. Invited to laugh through this exhibition, we also note the Duchess subverts societal norms and depicts a woman brazenly flouting the conventions of her day. Portraits such as this play with the accepted conventions of fine art of the time. Satirical art allowed renaissance artists the play with beauty standards, social conventions and gender expectations.
Notes:
This exhibition is a singular room (Room 46) within the National Gallery. The location of the exhibition is easy to spot when entering the exhibition from the main entrance of the gallery currently open in April 2023. However, when going up the steps to the exhibition, there are two doors that one may assume lead to the exhibition. Only one of these doors actually does. The correct door is attempted to be made clear by being surrounded by a navy blue wall (the same color as the walls within the exhibition itself), however there is still some confusion to be found as the blue does extend to one side of the adjacent door.
Directly opposite the doors to enter the exhibition is the title work - An Old Woman (aka the Ugly Duchess). Paired with her is another of Massys’s works, An Old Man. They are placed on a section of all that is a slightly darker shade of blue than the rest of the gallery walls. This is meant to emphasize that they are the focal point of the exhibition. The characters in the works are positioned to be facing inward toward one another as if the curators sought to create a dialog between the man and the woman depicted.
On the left of the painting of the old woman, and to the right of the painting of the old man are additional depictions of these characters - sketches and additional renditions.
Other works within the space emphasize what The Ugly Duchess sought to do, which is purposefully subverting the canon and turning it on its head. For Example, Faenza’s Bust of An Old Woman (1490-1520). This is a tin glazed earthenware bust but on loan from The Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge. This piece plays with the use of traditional fine art materials (specifically the use of cobalt tin glaze - an expensive material, and Italian maiolica which typically featured beautiful women) paired with a traditionally unattractive depiction of a woman to utilize the same satire as in Massys’s painting.
The plagues paired with each piece within the room are very informative to discuss what makes the works satirical in relation to the Renaissance period and to provide additional information as to its significance in relation to An Old Woman.
The room itself is small, but the space is well organized to maintain a consistent flow as long as there isn’t an over abundance of people in the space There are several pieces to look at before and after the main focal point (An Old Woman and An Old Man by Massys) including two in the round sculptures located on vitrines to the left of the focal point pieces.
This show works within the traditional conventions of the gallery space with the expectation of a darker colored wall (which has become more common in recent years in comparison to the classic white walled gallery). The same conventions are found throughout the rest of the museum.
This show is well situated within the National Gallery. It highlights a specific way to view a permanent piece within the National Gallery’s permanent collection. It is interesting to note that it is on display at the same time, and in close proximity within the gallery to Nalini Malani’s show My Reality is Different. Both shows ask the viewer to revisit works within the traditional art historical canon. Both shows are also geared toward a younger demographic.
The demographic of The Ugly Duchess : Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance can be argued to be a young audience as it is a seemingly less serious show depicting works meant to provoke laughter. Yet, both younger and older audiences can find joy in the nuances and layers of this exhibition as it can provide opportunity for deeper discussion on issues, as satire does.
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