RUBENS PAINTINGS THE SUBJECT OF FREE LECTURE AT CLARK ART INSTITUTE

For Immediate Release
September 26, 2016

Williamstown, Massachusetts—Margaret D. Carroll, professor of art at Wellesley College, presents “Violence in the Air: Painting for King Philip IV's Hunting Lodge” on Sunday, October 9 at 3 pm at the Clark Art Institute. The free lecture will be held in the Michael Conforti Pavilion.

Between 1636 and 1638, Peter Paul Rubens designed more than sixty paintings of mythological subjects for King Philip IV’s royal hunting lodge outside Madrid, known as the Torre de la Parada. In choosing his subjects, Rubens drew from the ancient Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses. In this lecture, Carroll highlights paintings from the exhibition Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado to argue that Rubens conceived of a number of these commissioned paintings as pairs, such as Rape of Hippodamia and Marriage of Peleus and Thetis. These pairings served to provoke dialectical reflection on such themes as passion and restraint, order and chaos, chance and reason, and violence and tranquility.

Margaret D. Carroll’s primary research has been in the field of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish painting, with specialized work on Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens, and Rembrandt. She is the author of Painting and Politics in Northern Europe: Van Eyck, Bruegel, Rubens, and their Contemporaries (Penn State University Press, 2008).

ABOUT THE CLARK

The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of more than 240,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Admission is $20; free year-round for Clark members, children 18 and younger, and students with valid ID. For more information, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.

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Clark Art Institute
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413 458 0471