The Medieval Body

For thinkers and artists of the medieval era, the body was a dynamic source of religious and philosophical significance. While the early Middle Ages kept representations of suffering figures at the margins, the later Middle Ages displayed wounded bodies in the most central spaces of public life, such as in altars, processions, and on church facades.

Accompanying the third entry in an exhibition series, The Medieval Body tells the story of the human form as both a physical entity and metaphor. By presenting works spanning a thousand years, it offers insight into the body as inspiration with far-reaching implications for the development of art in the European Middle Ages.