Title: The ivory mirror : the art of mortality in Renaissance Europe /
Authors: Perkinson, Stephen; Speakman, Naomi; Goodyear, Anne Collins,; Morrison, Elizabeth, 1968-; Baker, K.; Duffes, Melissa; Polich, Ryan,; Lee, Maggie,; Bowdoin College.; Artron Art Group,
Year: 2017
Subjects: Death in art Exhibitions.; Art, Renaissance Themes, motives Exhibitions.; Ivories, Renaissance Exhibitions.; Art, Renaissance Themes, motives.; Death in art.; Ivories, Renaissance.; ART Sculpture & Installation.; ART History Renaissance.; SOCIAL SCIENCE Death & Dying.; ART Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions General.
Abstract: "We often imagine the Renaissance as an age of exceptional human progress and artistic achievement. But, intriguingly, macabre images proliferated in precisely this period: unsettling depictions of Death personified, of decaying bodies, of young lovers struck down in their prime. These morbid themes run riot in the remarkable array of artworks featured in The Ivory Mirror. Nearly 200 illustrated artworks--from ivory prayer beads to gem-encrusted jewelry to exquisitely carved small sculptures--present us with an aspect of this era that is at once darker and more familiar than we might have expected"--