Calling all art enthusiasts! We’ re sure you already know about the Saint Louis Art Museum’s current exhibition, Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration. But did you know about the upcoming Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred?

In 2000 the Saint Louis Art Museum purchased Cavaliere d’Arpino’s Perseus Rescuing Andromeda, an exceptional painting on lapis lazuli. The acquisition of the small, stunning work of art spurred extensive research that culminates in Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530–1800, the first systematic examination of the pan-European practice of this unusual and little-studied artistic tradition.

By 1530 Italian artists had begun to paint portraits and sacred images on stone. At first artists used slate and marble. By the last decades of the 16th century, the repertoire expanded, eventually including alabaster, lapis lazuli, onyx, jasper, agate, and amethyst. In addition to demonstrating the beauty of these works, Paintings on Stone explains why artists began using stone supports and the role that stone played in the meaning of these endeavors.

Bringing together more than 90 examples by 58 artists, Paintings on Stone represents major centers of stone painting and features 34 different stones, nearly the full range that were used.

The exhibition is curated by Judith W. Mann, curator of European art to 1800.

Paintings in Stone won’t be here until February, so keep up to date on everything art with SL: https://www.sophisticatedstlouis.com/mag/subscribe