'Hope and Healing' Medical Symposium

The Worcester Art Museum and the UMass Medical School will present "Plague, An Abiding Scourge," a symposium in conjunction with the exhibition Hope and Healing: Painting in Italy in a Time of Plague, 1500-1800 on Sept. 11 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. at Tuckerman Hall, 10 Tuckerman St.

The welcome will be delivered by James A. Welu, Ph.D., director of the Worcester Art Museum. Michael F. Collins, M.D. ’77, chancellor of UMass Boston and chair of the board of trustees at Holy Cross, will address "The Art of Healing." Robert Finberg, MD., professor and chair in the department of medicine at UMass Medical School will give a talk on "Plague Past & Present." Pamela M. Jones, Ph.D., associate professor of art history at UMass Boston will focus on "Hope and Healing" in art.

Tours of Hope and Healing, along with a wine and cheese reception, will run from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St.

The critically-acclaimed exhibit, open through Sept. 25, represents an unprecedented collaboration between Holy Cross, Clark University, and the Worcester Art Museum. The exhibition explores art’s role in envisioning hope and healing in an age marked by outbreaks of plague. Bringing together 37 works from more than 30 different lenders in the United States and from abroad, the show includes works by major artists such as Tintoretto, Mignard, Van Dyck, Tiepolo and Canaletto.

The events, sponsored in part by the Bernard G. and Louise B. Palitz Fund, are free and open to the public. R.S.V.P. by Sept. 6 to Suzanne Bonner at suzannebonner@worcesterart.org.