Exaggerated facial features and grotesque expressions are among the defining features of Renaissance satire. This exhibition at the National Gallery in London (16 March–11 June) focuses on one of the most memorable portraits in the museum’s collections: The Ugly Duchess (c. 1513) by the early 16th-century Flemish painter Quentin Massys. Uniting the portrait with its companion piece An Old Man (1513) and placing it in dialogue with equally expressive portraits by the likes of Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer and Jan Gossaert, the show reveals the work to be a deliberate parody of the traditional marriage portrait. Find out more on the National Gallery’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary
An Old Woman (The Ugly Duchess) (c. 1513), Quinten Massys. Photo: © National Gallery, London
An Old Man (1513), Quinten Massys. Photo: © Culturespaces/Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris
A satire on aged lovers (c. 1490), Leonardo da Vinci. Royal Collection Trust, London
A Witch Riding Backwards on a Goat (c. 1500), Albrecht Dürer. Victoria and Albert Museum, London
An Old Woman (c. 1514–24), Quinten Massys. Photo: © Phoebus Foundation, Antwerp
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