Da Vinci, Botticelli and Cranach shine at the Bozar

A radiant, fertile woman by Botticelli, a grotesque drawing of an old man by Leonardo da Vinci, a sketch of an old woman by Michelangelo: Bozar in Brussels is showcasing some of the biggest names in art. 'The beauty and the beast' is an ancient theme, from classical antiquity to the films of Jean Cocteau and Disney. Bozar is exploring the themes of beauty and ugliness under the title “Bellezza e bruttezza”.

Not only does that sound much nicer in Italian, but there are also many works from Italy on display. From the Renaissance period, late 15th to late 16th century. The Low Countries are also well represented.

In total, Bozar is exhibiting 95 paintings, drawings and sculptures from some 60 lenders from across Europe and the United States. Even the Vatican Museums have loaned “The Three Graces”, from the Roman period, which Renaissance artists were so fond of.

‘These are works that very rarely travel because they are extremely fragile,’ explains Zoë Gray, Bozar's delighted director of exhibitions. ‘It was a major challenge to bring all this together. Especially because Bozar itself does not have a permanent museum collection: we have nothing to offer in exchange. All this is thanks to the quality of the curator, the Italian Chiara Rabbi Bernard, and the design of the exhibition itself.’

A stunning Botticelli

A major highlight of the exhibition is the Allegorical Portrait of a Woman, painted around 1490 by Sandro Botticelli. A “beautiful” woman is depicted against a bright blue sky. Pearls are stitched into her intricate braided hairstyle and onto her dress and scarf. With her fingers, she squeezes milk from her right breast, like a goddess of fertility, or a kind of Madonna, but without a child in the picture.

Botticelli most likely used Simonetta Vespucci as his model, the same woman who appears in one of his most famous paintings, “The Birth of Venus”. Simonetta died at the age of 23. The painting on display in Brussels comes from a private collection.

Even more “ideal” beauty can be found in Titian's paintings. Like in his portrait of Giulia Gonzaga, where he clearly exaggerated her fair skin and red cheeks. In a letter she wrote that he had made her look much prettier than she really was.

In contrast to the “positive” nature of all that beauty, one could consider the artworks with “ugly” images as the “negative”. But it's not that simple, says Zoë Gray. 'The divine ideal and the grotesque gaze are equally important. This is not about two fixed poles, but about interaction and how one reinforces the other.'

The exhibition constantly moves the viewer back and forth between the “ideal”, the “realistic” and the “caricatural”.

Quite a few artists were fascinated by people with imperfections. The Dutch painter Willem Key painted a portrait of Magret Halseboer, also known as “The Woman with Two Beards”. Bozar also has a sketch of an old woman by none other than Michelangelo. Old faces with wrinkles or strange noses: always interesting to paint!

But this also says a lot about the relationship between artist and model, says Zoë Gray: 'People with power are never depicted as ugly, but people on the margins are.'

The exhibition also features an anonymous portrait of Madeleine Gonzales, a girl with a condition that caused her to be completely covered in hair. Her entire family was treated as an inferior species, but here she is depicted wearing an elegant dress.

Caricature of Leonardo da Vinci

The many caricatures, grotesque heads and monstrous distortions exude the joy of drawing. In a glass cabinet, you can see a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci depicting a terrifying old woman with a sunken face.

Da Vinci's mocking drawings were also imitated in the Low Countries. Quinten Matsijs also painted an old woman as a wrinkled apple. His son Jan Massys painted a scene with old lovers, featuring sexual symbols such as a bagpipe and a jug. The message is clear: old people should no longer engage in sexual activity.

Beauty and ugliness depicted together

‘Beautiful’ and ‘ugly’ can also often be seen together in the same image. A jester peeking out from the corner of a scene, as if to put the other characters into perspective or a satyr trying to seduce the Roman goddess Pomona among the harvest of exotic fruits.

The German master Lucas Cranach is represented with three paintings of “unequal couples”. An old man and a young girl: he gropes her body, she resolutely reaches into his purse. It could also be the other way around, with an older woman and a young man. Sugar daddy or cougar, old and young, “beautiful” and “ugly”, here united in a single image with a moralistic finger.

There's plenty of material to reflect on what was and is considered “beautiful” and “ugly” at the Bozar. At the beginning of March, an complementary exhibition opens, also at the Bozar, presenting the vision of contemporary photographers and video artists.