In the period following the Middle Ages, it was newly believed that the emotions of subjects in paintings—whether joy, pain, contemplation, or confrontation—could produce psychological and physiological responses in the viewer. Culling 60 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures from its permanent collection, the Norton Simon presents works focused on the human form and created between the 15th and 18th centuries. The exhibition features Jusepe de Ribera’s 1615 The Sense of Touch, an oil painting of a blind man caressing a marble bust; Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s Rococo masterpiece Happy Lovers, that swooning couple embracing under a tree; and Agostino di Giovanni’s 14th-century The Virgin Annunciate, the late-Gothic sculptor’s marble rendering of a forlorn Mary. —J.D.

The Expressive Body: Memory, Devotion, Desire (1400–1750)
–
Norton Simon Museum / Los Angeles / Art
Norton Simon Museum / Los Angeles / Art
Jusepe de Ribera, “The Sense of Touch,” c. 1615 © The Norton Simon Foundation.
Visit
Norton Simon Museum
411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91105
Get Directions »
Start a New Search
Subscribers Only
Start your free trial to access the full Arts Intel Report
Subscribe to Air Mail to access every article
and search our entire Arts Intel Report.
Already a subscriber? Sign in here.