The monstrous and the mystical

What happens when holiness meets horror?

Join art historian Melissa Baksh for this exploration of ‘The Virgin and Child with Saints Louis and Margaret’, a striking painting where the sacred and the grotesque exist side by side.

In this event, we’ll delve into the strange and unsettling visual language often found in medieval and Renaissance religious art – where monstrous demons, dragons and devils frame the serene faces of saints and religious figures. Why did artists blend divine subjects with such nightmarish imagery? What did viewers of the time see that we might miss today?

Through this painting and others like it, discover how the grotesque was used not to shock, but to teach and ultimately inspire faith.

Melissa Baksh is a London-based art historian, writer, educator, and broadcaster/DJ. A desire to make art accessible and open up art collections to a wide range of audiences underpins her work and as well as the National Gallery, she has delivered lectures, tours and workshops at the Hayward Gallery, Wellcome Collection and the National Gallery of Umbria. She has written for publications including The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Art Newspaper, Frieze and ArtReview on Old Masters, Italian Renaissance art, contemporary art, the colonial history of art collections and public art and statues. Melissa DJs regularly across music venues in the capital, and has hosted radio shows on Rhythm and Frames, Netil and Balamii Radio.

A recording of this event will be made available to all ticket holders in the days following the event.

This recording will be available for two weeks.

Automatic closed captioning is available for this event.