Delight in Disorder

“A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;…
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.”

Sixteenth-century Venetian painters catered to the niche market for pictures of “disheveled” women, a new genre of portraiture—half-length, close-up, pictures of women with hair and clothing in slight disarray. Pin-ups, really, for a gentleman’s delectation. Dr. Santore will discuss this new genre of painting and its progeny.