The Ugly Duchess – The National Gallery

Take a teasing journey through the Middle Ages this Spring when an imaginative collection of deranged artwork comes to The National Gallery.

Gaze upon a display of hideous paintings depicting the flamboyant costume and grotesque distortion of faces in the Renaissance, all inspired by Quinten Massys’ The Ugly Duchess.

Artwork by Leonardo da Vinci and others will make an appearance to illustrate a shared interest in the comic and expressive method of displaying women with unruly features, redefining beauty standards and gender expectations.

See an alternative view of how women, old age and facial differences were demonised when The Ugly Duchess: Beauty and Satire in the Renaissance opens at the National Gallery from March 16th until June.

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Words by Aisling Hannon