Drawing Distinctions:
Representations of Jesus and Mary
in the Crocker's Permanent Collection
November 8, 2003 - January 18, 2004

This focused exhibition, comprised of 14 drawings from the Crocker’s permanent collection, complements the exhibition, Icons or Portraits? Images of Jesus and Mary from the Collection of Michael Hall. This show includes rare examples from notable German, Italian, and Flemish draftsmen from the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, including the Master of the Mühldorf altarpiece, Denys Calvaert, Antonio Tempesta, the circles of Michelangelo and Andrea del Sarto, and Agostino Ciampelli.

The aim of this exhibition is to compare and contrast images treating similar narrative moments in the New Testament with an eye to recognizing and evaluating the stylistic and thematic distinctions between them. Viewers will be challenged to examine seven pairings of various themes related to Jesus and Mary derived from some of the most important and frequently represented scenes in the Christian tradition. These include scenes of the Annunciation, Visitation, Adoration, Holy Family, Passion, Crucifixion and Jesus and Mary with Saints. By contrasting different graphic solutions to the representation of similar narrative moments or themes, the exhibition suggests further avenues for understanding these objects, while rethinking traditional notions of subject and artistic content.