The Michigan Center for Early Christian Studies, in partnership with the Department of Middle East Studies (University of Michigan), presented on February 25, 2021, an online lecture that explores the religious themes of the Detroit Institute of Art. Dr. Shelley Perlove to introduced selected holdings in the collection in a presentation is titled the “Treasures of Religious Art of the Detroit Institute of Arts.” A Question & Answer time followed the presentation.
“Treasures of Religious Art of the Detroit Institute of Arts” focused on diverse and ever-changing images of Christ and Mary from the 14th through the 17th century in Italy, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Exquisite works from the Detroit Institute of Arts were discussed in terms of their meaning and distinctive cultural context, including traditions of Catholic and Protestant interpretation. Also discussed were the varied techniques employed by artists working with such materials as wood, marble, enamel, and of course paint. In many cases Dr. Perlove theoretically “reconstructed” the original settings of these works within religious society. Issues of museum display were a major component of this discussion that examined work of architecture, as well as altarpieces and other devotional objects created for ecclesiastical and domestic settings.
Dr. Shelley Perlove, Professor Emerita of the History of Art of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, specializes in Italian and Dutch art of the seventeenth century. Her scholarly interests include art and religious culture in early modern Europe, the Hebrew Bible, material culture, and the visual arts, and visual typology in sixteenth-century art.