Classically Trained: The Gentlings and Music explores Scott and Stuart Gentling’s artistic engagement with the Age of Enlightenment, a period of intellectual and creative flourishing that took place in Europe from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Organized by the Carter, this exhibition features over 20 artworks by the Gentlings, including paintings, drawings, and music inspired by the intellectual and cultural ideals of this era. This exhibition also features objects and artifacts from the period that inspired the Gentlings’ art making, including a multivolume 18th-century encyclopedia available to the Gentlings in the Carter’s Library as well as a harpsichord that Scott commissioned for his own use.

Classically Trained also highlights the Gentlings’ crowning project, the decorative designs at Fort Worth’s Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall. This includes renderings of the early and final designs for the central dome as well as watercolor studies for the facade. This monumental project represents the culmination of the Gentlings’ fascination with the Enlightenment era, as they intertwined their interest in art, nature, music, and classical architecture throughout the designs.