The tour will focus on a selection of painted and sculpted portraits by such artists as Gainsborough, Goya, and David, exploring the interplay of status, character, and identity in an age of global encounter. At its center is the US debut of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s Portrait of Mai, one of the most celebrated British paintings of the 18th century, which was jointly purchased by the J. Paul Getty Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2023. Portrayed in a full-length format traditionally reserved for the European elite, this depiction of Mai – the first Polynesian visitor to England – subtly reconfigured the genre’s conventions and stands today as a monument to the era’s complicated history of global interactions. Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Mai (Omai), about 1776, oil on canvas. Purchased jointly by the J.Paul Getty Trust and the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 2023. Support provided to NPG by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and other generous supporters.

Led by Dr. Davide Gasparotto, Save Venice Board Member and Senior Curator of Paintings, Getty Museum

Davide Gasparotto is Senior Curator and Head of the Paintings Department, and Chair, Curatorial Affairs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. He is also currently Chair of the Educational Resources Committee of the Save Venice Board of Directors. A native of Bassano del Grappa, Italy, he was previously the Director of the Fondazione Piero della Francesca in Sansepolcro (1996-98), and a curator at the National Gallery of Parma from 1999 to 2012. From 2012 to 2014 he was Director of the Galleria Estense in Modena. He was a Francis A. Yates Fellow at the Warburg Institute, London (1999), Paul Mellon Visiting Senior Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. (2007), and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011-2012). At the Getty, he organized several acclaimed exhibitions such as Giovanni Bellini: Landscapes of Faith in Renaissance Venice (2017-18), Pontormo: Miraculous Encounters (2019), and Giacomo Ceruti: A Compassionate Eye (2023). 

Members Benefit: Join or Renew

*Please note this event has limited in-person capacity and will be offered to qualifying supporters on a first-come basis.

Image: Portrait of Mai (“Omai”) (detail), about 1776, Sir Joshua Reynolds. Oil on canvas. Purchased jointly by the J. Paul Getty Trust and the Board of Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery, London, 2023. Support provided to NPG by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund and other generous supporters. Photo: National Portrait Gallery, London