This autumn, The Frick Collection presents the first monographic exhibition dedicated to Andrea Riccio (1470–1532), one of the greatest—and least-known—bronze masters of the Renaissance. The exhibition will be on view through January 18, 2009.
Though the artist was celebrated in the sixteenth century as a “sovereign master of bronze” and is acknowledged today as one of the most sublimely creative sculptors of the Italian Renaissance, Riccio’s achievement is still not widely recognized or generally understood. His oeuvre remains the province of specialists, and the majority of his works are scattered across museum collections, where they are viewed in isolation. Even Riccio’s greatest and largest commission, the extraordinary Paschal Candelabrum, stands alone, distantly shrouded in the shadowed choir of the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua.
The long-overdue exhibition and publication aim to introduce Riccio’s dramatically beautiful work to the general and scholarly public by presenting for fresh examination a significant portion of his known production. Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze includes all the objects attributed to him that reside in public and private collections in the United States and features important examples from institutions across Europe, such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Musee du Louvre, Paris; the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; and the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence. The exhibition brings together thirty of the sculptor’s rare autograph bronzes, two of his fragmentary, life-size terracottas, and a selection of statuettes associated with his workshop.
The sculptures span every phase of Riccio’s career and are representative of the genres in which he worked: figurative statuettes, functional bronzes, and narrative reliefs. The exhibition is presented exclusively at The Frick Collection, along with a range of educational programs and a richly illustrated and scholarly catalogue. The exhibition is organized by the Frick’s Curator and sculpture and Renaissance specialist Denise Allen, with Peta Motture, Senior Curator of Sculpture and Project Chief Curator of the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
Major funding has been provided by The Christian Humann Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Phipps Jr., and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Additional support has been generously provided by Mr. and Mrs. Walter A. Eberstadt, Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill, Peter P. Marino, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Hester Diamond, and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation. The project is also supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by The Frick Collection in association with Philip Wilson Publishers, London, and was made possible by the generous support of the Robert Lehman Foundation and the Thaw Charitable Trust.
Comments lead curator Denise Allen, “Andrea Riccio is one of the last remaining great Renaissance artists whose oeuvre heretofore has awaited comprehensive modern study. It has been a rare privilege and something of an adventure to organize the first monographic exhibition dedicated to this magnificent sculptor. The generous international collaboration among museum institutions, curators, and scholars, that was intrinsic to the development of the exhibition and its catalogue, allows us to present a truly fresh view of Riccio as a dynamic contributor to Italian Renaissance culture–today more readily associated with the achievements of his contemporaries: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. The exhibition catalogue is intended to provide an introduction to Riccio’s life and work and to function as a platform for future scholarship.”
The picture shows 'Andrea Riccio (1470–1532), The Shouting Horseman, c. 1510–15, bronze, 33.0 cm high, Victoria and Albert Museum, London'. -- www.frick.org
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