Critic's picks - visual arts
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DRAWN TO DRAMA: ITALIAN WORKS ON PAPER 1500-1800
With everyone's eyes on the contemporary art scene, it's edifying to see young collectors still interested in other fields. Robert Loper was listed in 2004 by Art and Antiques as one of America's top 100 collectors. His passion? Italian old master drawings from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Loper's collection, which includes drawings by Francesco Fontebasso, Luca Giordano, and Federico Zuccaro, makes up almost half of a riveting show of rarely seen drawings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The other half is from the Clark's own collection. Through Jan. 4. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown. 413-458-2303 www.clarkart.edu.
DRAWN TO DETAIL
Twenty-six artists with a fear of empty space! This show, which includes superb work by Jacob El Hanani, Daniel Zeller, and Marco Maggi, puts a spotlight on the impulse to fill white surfaces with fine and finicky marks. In some cases, what you need is not so much a spotlight as a magnifying glass. Through Jan. 4. DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln. 781-259-8355. www.decordova.org.
THE TRIUMPH OF MARRIAGE: PAINTED CASSONI OF THE RENAISSANCE
A splendid show of cassoni - narrative paintings created for wedding chests - from the Renaissance in 15th-century Tuscany. Their subjects are sometimes arcane but always fascinating allegories from classical history and myth and sometimes contemporary events. Through Jan. 18. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 617-566-1401, www.gardnermuseum.org
TARA DONOVAN
Donovan's spellbinding works use plastic buttons, toothpicks, plastic cups and Mylar tape, among other forms of trash-in-the-making, to make challenging and utterly convincing propositions about beauty. This may be the ICA's best show yet. Through Jan. 4. Institute of Contemporary Art. 617-478-3103, www.icaboston.org
MYSTIC MASQUE: SEMBLANCE AND REALITY IN GEORGES ROUAULT
A revelatory show about one of modern art's misfits. Rouault was at the center of the creative cauldron that was Paris at the turn of the century, but his inclinations - religious, figurative art dealing in mournful allegory - set him apart from tendencies in advanced art at the time. More than 180 works highlight an artist as original and sincere as any in the modernist canon. Through Dec. 7. McMullen Museum of Art, Chestnut Hill. 617-552-8100, www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/artmuseum.
SEBASTIAN SMEE
