Out of the Kress Vaults: Women in Sacred Renaissance Painting

The exhibition explores representations of femininity and virtue in Italian Renaissance paintings of the Virgin Mary, female saints, and nuns. Ranging from small, devotional images intended for the highly gendered spaces of the Renaissance home, to large altarpieces originally on display in churches, these artworks intertwine depictions of idealized beauty with messages of virtue and piety, presenting these women as models of virtue and devotion for emulation – and admiration – by their Renaissance viewers.

This exhibition is the first in the museum’s history to be co-curated with Fairfield University students. Taking inspiration from two paintings of the Madonna and Child in the museum’s own Samuel H. Kress Collection, students in Dr. Michelle DiMarzo’s art history seminar developed the exhibition by examining Kress collections at other institutions, with an emphasis on works typically held in storage. Lenders to the exhibition include the National Gallery of Art, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the Harvard Art Museums, and the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami.

*The recording of this program was made possible by a CT Cultural Fund Operating Support Grant from Connecticut Humanities.*