Yale's Painted Ladies Explores Women of the Court
Kate Hutchinson - Nate Curtis
Issue date: 2/26/02 Section: Arts
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For the more artistically ambitious and mobile Trinity student, the place to be this month is the Yale Center for British Art. There is always the Wadsworth around here, but if you feel in the mood for a little trip and change of scenery, if just for the afternoon, this excellent gallery is just three quarters of an hour south on I-91. The current highlight exhibit at the Yale Center for British Art is Painted Ladies - Women at the Court of Charles II, 1660-1685. Overall, this exhibit is visually breathtaking and awash in color. Some of the works displayed are on loan from Elizabeth II and if I were Her Majesty, I would not have let them out of the palace, as they re quite impressive.
Following the reign of the Puritan Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, during which many of the gilded relics of the earlier Stuarts were melted down for the war effort against the Dutch or painted black to cover their sinful extravagance, the English welcomed back the Stuart monarchy in the form of Charles II. Charles was everything Cromwell was not. The new king had mistresses, threw balls, patronized the arts and generally lived a happy and profligate life. Baroque Style characterizes the art of his reign, gilding the lily any time there was a chance to and producing stunning works in painting, literature and music. The current exhibit at Yale focuses on, but not at the exclusion of many others, Barbara Villiers and Louise de Keroualle, two of Charles principle mistresses.
One of the first paintings that catches your eye walking into the exhibit is a 1660 portrait of Elizabeth Butler by Sir Peter Lely. This painting is somewhat unusual in that the perspective is slightly off. The curls piled on Elizabeth Butler s head also strike a modern viewer as odd, but were no doubt at the time quite fashionable. Aspects of the painting that are pleasing include Butler s dress which is painted with great care and deliberation as well as her hands, holding a rose symbolic of her fertility, which are rendered in exquisite detail.
Following the reign of the Puritan Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, during which many of the gilded relics of the earlier Stuarts were melted down for the war effort against the Dutch or painted black to cover their sinful extravagance, the English welcomed back the Stuart monarchy in the form of Charles II. Charles was everything Cromwell was not. The new king had mistresses, threw balls, patronized the arts and generally lived a happy and profligate life. Baroque Style characterizes the art of his reign, gilding the lily any time there was a chance to and producing stunning works in painting, literature and music. The current exhibit at Yale focuses on, but not at the exclusion of many others, Barbara Villiers and Louise de Keroualle, two of Charles principle mistresses.
One of the first paintings that catches your eye walking into the exhibit is a 1660 portrait of Elizabeth Butler by Sir Peter Lely. This painting is somewhat unusual in that the perspective is slightly off. The curls piled on Elizabeth Butler s head also strike a modern viewer as odd, but were no doubt at the time quite fashionable. Aspects of the painting that are pleasing include Butler s dress which is painted with great care and deliberation as well as her hands, holding a rose symbolic of her fertility, which are rendered in exquisite detail.
