Elaine Velie

Renaissance Europeans hid paintings of their faces behind sliding panels and tucked portraits of their loved ones inside folding boxes, turning the act of seeing someone’s likeness into a type of game. Patrons added art to these coverings to provide a first round of entertainment for lucky viewers. A show at the Met looked at the bizarre imagery they chose: There’s a pair of lounging satyrs, a scantily clad “Wild Man,” more than a few cherubs, and no shortage of aspiration allegories about sitters’ virility and chastity.

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