In 1668, the French painter and then-director of the Royal Academy of France, Charles Le Brun, delivered a lecture in which he codified the depiction of human emotions in a series of têtes d’expression (expressive heads), creating a visual vocabulary for the passions that formed the basis for most narrative art of the period. Artists looked for antique models, and they easily found them in the ancient monuments of Rome, such as the multitude of carved figures circling Trajan’s Column.

from Calendar of Events, Winter 2021