METAL OF HONOR: Gold from Simone Martini to Contemporary Art
Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, Main Lobby
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October 13, 2022 to January 16, 2023
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA
This exhibition centers on the two most significant altarpieces by Simone Martini located outside of Italy—both drawn from the collection of the Gardner Museum, and indeed the only Martini altarpieces of any kind to be found beyond Italy’s borders. The centerpiece is the monumental gold polyptych, originally commissioned for a church in Orvieto and acquired in 1899 by Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. These works are complemented by pieces from contemporary artists (Titus Kaphar, Stacy Lynn Waddell, Kehinde Wiley) who re-engage with the gold of the Trecento within a modern context.
Simone Martini (c. 1284–1344) ranks among the giants of the Italian gold-ground tradition—a court painter to popes and princes, and a master of the lyrical line and of the exquisite subtlety of gold application. The Gardner Museum holds two of his works and dedicated to them, in this instance, the first major exhibition of their kind ever held on American soil. Anyone seeking to understand why the gold ground serves not merely as a backdrop but as an active theological space simply can not miss this exhibition.
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