In Berlin: Renaissance Faces - Masterpieces of Italian Portraiture

Renaissance Art Exhibit Kicks-Off in Berlin... por NTDTV

The Gemäldegalerie—National Museums in Berlin and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, have partnered to organize a major exhibition on the genesis of the Italian portrait of the Renaissance.

The exhibition shows more than 150 works, including drawings, paintings, sculptures and medals loaned by major art museums, galleries and private collections, such as the Louvre, the National Gallery in London, the Uffizi Gallery, Museum der bildenden Künste in Leipzig, Victoria and Albert Museum, Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.

Set against the backdrop of Italy’s geographical, political and cultural complexities in the 15th century, the exhibition is divided into three thematic sections: Florence, where the independent portraiture debuted on a significant scale; the courts of Ferrara, Mantua, Bologna, Milan, Urbino, Naples and finally papal Rome; and finally Venice, where only late in the century a portrait tradition established itself.
Through the observation of profile portraits from 15th-century Italy, visitors will observe a society dominated by family descent and social hierarchies, where conventions were binding.

Among the celebrated painters from the Renaissance who are represented in this major exhibition, are the names of Antonello da Messina, Bellini, Botticelli, Donatello, Francesco Laurana, Giambono, Lombardi, Mantegna and Masaccio.
But for many, the major highlight is Leonardo da Vinci with his painting ‘Lady with an Ermine’ from the Czartoryski Collection, Cracow.


Leonardo da Vinci - Lady with an Ermine por ikonotv

An extensive programme of events is on offer to accompany the major exhibition,
including a series of five lectures, held from September to November
2011, on the various sitters and the world famous artists who painted them.

The exhibition "Renaissance Faces - Masterpieces of Italian Portraiture" (Gesichter der Renaissance - Meisterwerke Italienischer Portrait-Kunst) can be visited at the Bode Museum in Berlin, from 25 August 2011 to 20 November 2011 (Fri – Wed 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Thur 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.).
After which it will be exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,
from 19 December 2011 to 18 March 2012.

A catalogue (ISBN 978-3-7774-3581-7) with 432 pages, 261 plates in colour and black-and-white, 20.3 × 25.4 cm, hardback, is available at the museum for the special price of €29.90.

Available for download for free at www.smb.museum/gesichter or at the Apple Store/www.apple.com/itunes, is an online application containing around 100 commentaries, over 250 artworks in high resolution images, as well as some 50 videos.