What Can Paintings Tell Us?

Every painting has a backstory. Sometimes that story is hidden in clues within the painting itself; at other times it is buried in the picture’s past. This installation highlights discoveries from the museum’s constantly unfolding research on several paintings from the 1400s through the 1700s.

In some cases, museum staff are trying to learn an artist’s identity or a picture’s original purpose. Some kinds of art, like copies of original paintings or art made by women, have historically been obscured. With every new discovery, we fill in missing pieces and unearth new questions to pursue.