Marjorie Thompson’s violet-gloved hand hovered patiently over Giovanni Pietro’s Saint Peter Martyr. Her sight guide responsively steadied her reach toward the Renaissance sculptor’s figure of the apostle. He led her hand across each fold and furrow of its gilded wooden cloak.

After a moment, he released Thompson’s hand and allowed her to freely explore the surface as he spoke to a small group at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Thompson’s face tightened and her expression became inquisitive as her hand traveled to the figure’s foot.

“No . . . no he’s kneeling. Look — look at his foot! He’s kneeling!” She interjected with a discovery that contradicted the guide’s statement that the figure was upright. As she felt his sandal-clad toes touching the ground in the relief sculpture, the guide came back for a closer look and re-examined the set of notes he gripped.

Thompson is blind, but she can successfully stump the visually unimpaired.

A FEELING FOR FORM

Those with visual disabilities now have more options for satisfying their desire for artistic enrichment. The MFA has opened its doors to those who observe with their eyes shut, proving that sightless and visionless are not necessarily synonymous.

“Twenty-five years ago, a visitor who was blind came in and said ‘What do you got for me?’ and we said, ‘What do you want to see?'” said Ruth Kahn, the accessibility coordinator for the MFA.

“And we kind of just took it from there. We now cater to people with all sorts of disabilities.”

A Feeling for Form is a program that offers two or three exhibition tours each month at the museum. While participants can now reach out and touch everything from Mino da Fiesole’s A Roman Emperor to Pier Jacopo Alarai Bonacolsi’s Bust of Cleopatra in the current Renaissance-themed “Donatello to Giambologna” exhibit, which runs through July, Kahn noted that the available options are limitless.

“This is only one of many,” she said. “In the past we’ve led groups through Egyptian exhibits, classical objects and Asian and African collections.”

The 15 tour participants were divided into groups of two or three on a recent afternoon and assisted by sight guides and tour guides who led them through each display.

“[The guides] wrote scripts, general information about the physical aspect of the pieces,” Kahn said, “What it looks like, general shapes, techniques, materials.”

“A Feeling for Form means that we’re fulfilling our mission to open doors to everyone,” she continued. “Art is universal. The blind, deaf — art is for everybody. We’re thinking and hoping that they come back soon.”

Kahn also emphasized the importance of selectivity to maintaining intimacy on the tours.

“Only people with guides and gloves can get in,” she said.

Phyllis Robbins, a guide for the exhibit, has a personal connection to her job. After many years working with the blind at the MFA, she still considers her profession exciting.

“When I have a person who is touching a piece of art, I can feel their excitement-I feel it and sense it and see it on their face,” she said.

When asked which piece draws the most attention, Robbins answered sincerely.

“All of the Madonna and Child pieces,” she said. “They bring a response like nothing else can — a love that comes through, and everyone can relate to that.”

OPENING MINDS

One afternoon in early March, the participants and sight guides hailed from the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton, a private, nonprofit rehabilitation center that serves the blind and visually impaired.

Participants were between 20 and 50 years old, and the severity of each person’s condition ranged from complete blindness to low vision, according to spokeswoman Naomi Zabot. She noted that even one of the staff members has totally lost his vision.

“They’re all part of an independent living program,” Zabot said. “It’s three months long and every two weeks or so, another person graduates. Each is on his or her own schedule, and every time someone new comes, the dynamic changes.”

“We’re just trying to teach people how to be independent,” she continued. “Simple things like how to cook, how to clean — everything that you and I can do is sometimes almost impossible for someone who’s just become blind.”

The Carroll Center recently held an alumni spring dance, a Braille literacy celebration and a five kilometer run, but Zabot said even with available opportunities, trips outside the institution are often met with reluctance, fear and frustration.

“People are in all different stages, and it’s a big thing to get up and go out,” she said. “A few are excited, but a lot of people don’t usually take advantage of the opportunities — they think it’s just something they have to do.”

“I understand it’s a process, and it can be intimidating, but you have to ask yourself: Are you going to go out and experience life, or are you just going to stop living?” she said.

“They look like they’re enjoying it, though, so I’m really excited to see if their opinions change.”

Zabot attributed a revived field trip program to fellow Carroll Center staff member and rehabilitation director Rabih Dow.

“He’s great. He organizes a lot of things in the summertime when it starts to get nice out. He’s especially interested in cultural opportunities,” she said.

“I’m here to be independent,” said Marjorie Thompson, a Carroll Center student. “They like to take people out into the world, and I’m ready and willing. We’re living people — we’re humans as well.”

THE MIND’S EYE

“Can you feel it? It’s almost like a ridge, like a weave,” guide Meghan Melvin told student Sarah Dingelhoff, explaining the texture of the leaves and grasses in Rest on the Flight into Egypt, a 17th century sculpture beside Donatello’s Madonna of the Clouds, one of the few Plexiglas-protected pieces in the exhibition.

“I’m really able to feel what the sculpture is with my hands,” Dingelhoff said.

“I’m so excited and it is a very interesting exhibit. It’s like history and art itself are coming together.”

Across the room, guide Paul Dunslap led a group through the history of the 16th century Bust of Aristotle in bronze and walked them through Virgin Adoring the Child.

“See if you can feel the features — the nose, the eyes, the forehead. Can you feel the little toes?” he inquired. “It’s quite three-dimensional.”

“I’m just interested in the conservation of art,” Carroll Center student Joanne Eno said.

“The forensics — I want to know the additive versus the subtractive. The science of it all. I want to visualize it.”

Eno, only recently blind, voiced her gratitude for the guides and their effort.

“I don’t know that I’d have the patience to do all of this,” she said.

As student Carlos Monteiro, of the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of west Africa, passed through the exhibit he said he felt liberated.

“I was so excited to hear about the program,” he said. “It’s great that legally blind people can feel safe and that they can depend on things like this to get out.”

Nearing the end of the tour, Melvin and Dingelhoff approached Angel, a 15th century piece.

Dingelhoff’s fingers explored the figure along its arm to an outstretched hand.

“It’s almost like he’s reaching, like he’s guiding you toward something,” Melvin said.

“Now feel the wings,” she instructed. “Each feather is like a tiny little eggshell, like a little piece of the whole. Work your way through the texture — all the curves and the lines.”

Dingelhoff maneuvered her hand to the bulge behind the figure’s arm. She stopped and looked confused, and it was clear she knew the figure was incomplete. The wing was broken.

“Maybe the angel fell from grace and got his wing broken,” she said. “But I guess that’s only my interpretation. Everyone has their own.”