By Hannah J. Farrow
The second—and most likely the last—museum in the country to host A Feast for the Eyes is right here in St. Pete at the Museum of Fine Arts.
Starting March 23, 40 paintings that reflect still life, landscape, and banquet scenes with “hidden symbolic meanings” will be on display through July 28. The paintings span from 1600 to 1750 and include works from Canaletto, one of the greatest view painters of all time.
A Feast for the Eyes is from the Grasset family of Spain’s private and personal collection. When this exhibition is over, the collection is returning to Spain with the family.
You can attend the gallery talk from 3 to 4 p.m. on March 24 when the MFA Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Stanton Thomas, Ph.D, will talk about the Dutch Golden Age and how this collection, according to a press release, reflects “the growing power of the middle class in this time period, the impact of maritime trade, the desire to capture images of luxury and abundance in art, and the emergence of the art market, along with a number of subtle ”hidden” symbolic meanings to be discovered.”
The gallery talk is free with admission to the downtown museum. Find more information and to purchase tickets in advance here. [link to: https://mfastpete.org/event/a-feast-for-the-eyes-gallery-talk-with-senior-curator-stanton-thomas/]