French Church & State Co-exist in Chicago

CHICAGO SUN TIMES
March 30, 2011

ILLINOIS - “Kings, Queens and Courtiers: Art in Early Renaissance France,” which recently opened at the Art Institute of Chicago, highlights one such glorious moment in history. It runs through May 30, and a hint of just how good this show is: the rare loan of “The Madonna of the Yarnwinder” by Leonardo da Vinci and his assistants, is not even the exhibit’s centerpiece. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, art flourished in provincial France, as well as in Paris, not for its own sake but in service to its wealthy patrons — mainly the church and the crown. Art glorified royal families. It was made to decorate their homes, solidify and proclaim their power, and provide objects for private worship. At the same time, art was commissioned for churches, to fill them with beautiful, functional objects that also served to educate a pious but mostly illiterate public. [link]

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