Belmont Abbey College Professors Weigh In On New Exhibit at Mint Museum - Scheduled Lectures Comment on Life & Times of ‘Renaissance to Rococo’

BELMONT, NC —- Two humanities professors at Belmont Abbey College will explore the works of several Old Masters represented in an exclusive art exhibition on display at the Mint Museum of Art in Charlotte, NC.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and Director of First-Year Symposium at Belmont Abbey College, Dr. Karen Abbondanza de la Motte will give the first lecture entitled, "Light in the Darkness: Miracles and Metamorphoses in the Baroque," on Friday, September 16, 2005 at 10:00 AM at the Mint Museum of Art. Admission is free.

The lecture is in conjunction with the exhibition, "Renaissance to Rococo: Masterpieces from the Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art," which will be on display beginning Saturday, September 24, 2005 until Sunday, January 15, 2006.

“Art is in everything we do. The ways with which we are seeing art history is such an esoteric thing,” says Abbondanza de la Motte, who teaches art history, Italian, and literature at the Abbey. “I have a passion for paintings in general – but the theme of miracles and metamorphoses, in particular. You can’t have one without the other; it is a change of state – a sense of moving out of yourself.”

“We can find spirituality in everything – works that have inspired the viewer to new levels of spirituality – it can change the individual, just by looking at it,” says Abbondanza de la Motte.

Dr. Dean de la Motte, Academic Dean and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Belmont Abbey College will give the lecture, "Royalty to Ruins," in conjunction with the same exhibition on Tuesday, October 25, 2005 at 7:30 PM at the Mint Museum of Art. "Royalty to Ruins" will be the final of a 3-part lecture series on the cultural, political and religious environments that shaped a golden age in European art. Registration is required. Admission is $30 for members of the Mint Museum, $45 for non-members; or $10/$15 nightly at the door.

"Renaissance to Rococo: Masterpieces from the Collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art" is an exhibition of 60 paintings from the European collection of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, the nation’s oldest public art museum. The most famous aspect of its European painting collection is the concentration of Italian Baroque masterpieces. Notable examples by Strozzi, Giordano, Rosa, Castello, Gentileschi, among others are included. The first authentic Caravaggio to enter an American museum is included in this presentation. Spanish and Northern European masterpieces include works by Goya, Ribera, Zurbaràn, Teniers the Younger, Hals, and Sweerts, among others. English artists include Van Dyck, West and Gainsborough to name but a few. The exhibition is funded by Bank of America.

For more information, you may contact the Mint Museum of Art at 704.337.2000.

Ranked one of the best comprehensive colleges in the Southeast by U.S. News and World Report and The Princeton Review, Belmont Abbey College celebrates excellence and virtue steeped in its 129-year Catholic Benedictine heritage. The liberal arts College is home to students from over 34 states and 26 countries and welcomes everyone from any background or tradition committed to this vision of excellence and virtue. The campus consists of the College, the Monastery and the Abbey Basilica, which can be found on its sprawling 650 acres of picturesque landscape.

Just minutes from Charlotte, NC, the nation’s second largest banking center, Belmont Abbey College offers students numerous internship opportunities and career placement.

The College believes in development of the whole person – mind, body and spirit. By offering a wide array of clubs and activities including Division II athletics, theatre, publications, and study abroad, Belmont Abbey College invests in the personal growth of its students.

Founded in 1876, the College celebrates its heritage and is inspired by the Benedictine monastic tradition. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the College and Abbey Basilica greet thousands of visitors each year.

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