Exhibitions
Collection Galleries
European Art
Edward A. and Inge Maser Gallery
The Smart Museum's European collection ranges from antiquity to the nineteenth century and includes painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts. Special strengths include Renaissance and Baroque works, as well as works on paper from the earliest days of the print medium through the beginning of the industrial age.
The works on view explore key themes, movements, and artistic approaches in traditional European art. Works are divided into thematic clusters that mix paintings with sculptures, prints, and the decorative arts. Within a broad swath of history and geography, the groupings open deeper lines of inquiry into the devotional art of the Counter-Reformation, the role of war and nationalism in the visual arts, the durability of classical aesthetic ideals and mythology, and the real and allegorical representation of nature.
Current highlights include paintings by Luca Cambiaso, Louis Dupré, and Henri de Valenciennes.
Academic connections
A small area of the gallery is dedicated to works on paper as well as displays that are connected to courses at the University of Chicago; these change quarterly.
The current rotation features works selected to complement Art 101, the introductory art history course taught at the University of Chicago. The varied selection includes: a twentieth-century African mask, a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, and a photograph by Eugène Atget.
The section also features an ongoing display that pairs Francisco de Goya's Disasters of War with a plate from Jacques Callot's Large Miseries of War.
Top: Installation view of the Smart Museum's European galleries, showing Luca Cambiaso's painting Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Benedict (c. 1562) at right.
Explore the collection
Explore our online collections database and discover the Smart Museum's full collection of European art.
