This fall, New York gets a rare window into a chapter of Renaissance art that has long been overshadowed by Florence. On October 15, The Frick Collection opens Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500, the first major exhibition ever devoted to Siena as a center of artistic excellence and technical innovation in bronze sculpture.
The show gathers nearly forty works — statues, reliefs, candelabra, and medals — by some of the most celebrated sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, including Donatello, Vecchietta, and Francesco di Giorgio. Many of the loans have never been exhibited outside Tuscany, so seeing them together in New York is a genuine once-in-a-generation opportunity.
Organized by Associate Curator Giulio Dalvit and presented in the Ronald S. Lauder Exhibition Galleries, the exhibition celebrates the beauty and versatility of bronze while exploring the demanding techniques, the political pressures on Sienese foundries, and the many roles the metal played — from church altars and household settings to the battlefield.
The exhibition runs through January 18, 2027 at the Frick’s Upper East Side mansion at 1 East 70th Street, with an accompanying catalogue and a season of lectures, gallery talks, and drawing programs planned around the show.
Photo: Vecchietta’s bronze tabernacle in Siena Cathedral (1467–72) — Sailko, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
