Nature Untamed: Capturing Beauty in the Dutch Golden Age

Opening at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts this autumn is the first solo exhibition of the work of the Dutch Golden Age painter, Rachel Ruysch. During the 17^th century, The East and West India Companies, were expanding the Dutch Colonial empire, creating a flourishing international trade of exotic fruits, fauna and flora. Painting alongside Rembrandt and Vermeer were women painters such as Rachel Ruysch, Maria Sibyll Merian and Clara Peeters, whose work was garnering fame and an international reputation. Filled with energy, power and precision, their Still Life works were anything but still. Working at the crossroads of beauty and science these women changed how botanists and scientists thought about nature and the natural world. Join us as we spend an enjoyable session exploring the fascinating lives and dynamic work of these artists and how they raised the level of botanic illustration to that of fine art.

Maria Mack D’Amario is an art historian specializing in European decorative arts and the American Gilded Age. A graduate of Denison University, Maria holds a post-graduate diploma in the history of art from the University of Oxford. She also holds an M.A. in the Venetian Renaissance from the University of Warwick in Coventry, United Kingdom. Maria has worked with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Royal Collection Trust and Lots Road Galleries. She has served as trustee and steering committee member of the U.K. Friends of the National Museum of Women in The Arts in Washington, D.C.  Currently, Maria works for the Preservation Society of Newport County.