Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500 at The Frick Collection

The Frick Collection opened Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500 on October 15, the first exhibition to treat Siena as a leading center of bronze sculpture in Renaissance Italy. It runs through January 18, 2027, in the Ronald S. Lauder Exhibition Galleries.

The show gathers nearly forty bronzes: statues, reliefs, candelabra, medals and other objects. Many have never been exhibited outside Tuscany. The sculptors include Donatello, Vecchietta and Francesco di Giorgio, among the most influential artists of the period.

The exhibition looks at the material itself as well as the finished objects. It presents bronze as a beautiful and versatile medium, and it explains the technical and political difficulties that Sienese bronzeworkers had to overcome. The online guide organizes the material into themes: the bronze foundry, Donatello in Siena, bronze and memory in the face of death, the close looking that reliefs demand, statues and statuettes, and medals. Images from the show include a close view of a wailing woman from a bronze relief, and Francesco di Giorgio's Deposition of Christ from the Cross with a Group of Donors (Federico da Montefeltro and His Family), made in 1473–74 and housed in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo in Venice.

Giulio Dalvit, the Frick's Associate Curator, organized the exhibition and is writing the accompanying catalogue with a team of international contributors. The project builds on earlier bronze presentations at the Frick that proved popular with visitors. Louis Vuitton is the Principal Cultural Sponsor.

Timed tickets are recommended, and members may visit free without a reservation. The Frick is at 1 East 70th Street on the Upper East Side.