The Leonard Lopate Show: The Renaissance Portrait at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Renaissance Portrait at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Curators Keith Christiansen and Andrea Bayer discuss the exhibition "The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini," on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through March 18. It celebrates Italian 15th-century portraiture, bringing together approximately 160 works by Donatello, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio, Pisanello, Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini, and Antonello da Messina, and includes painting, manuscript illumination, marble sculpture and bronze medals.

Donatello (Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi; Florence, ca. 1386–1466, Florence). Reliquary Bust of San Rossore

Ca. 1425
Cast bronze, chased, engraved, and gilded
22 x 23 7/8 x 14 5/8 in.
Museo Nazionale di San Matteo, Pisa
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Antonio del Pollaiuolo (Florence, 1431-1498, Rome). Portrait of a Lady

Ca. 1460-65
Oil and tempera on poplar panel
20 5/8 x 14 3/8 in.
Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fra Filippo Lippi (Florence, ca. 1406-1469, Spoleto). Portrait of a Woman and a Man at a Casement

Ca. 1440-44
Tempera on wood
25¼ x 16½ in.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Marquand Collection, Gift of Henry G. Marquand
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Desiderio da Settignano (Settignano, ca. 1430-1464, Florence). Bust of a Young Woman (Marietta di Lorenzo Strozzi?)

Ca. 1462
Marble
H. 20 5/8 in.
Skupturensammlung and Museum für Byzantinische Kunst, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sandro Botticelli (Florence, ca. 1444-1510, Florence). Ideal Portrait of a Lady (“Simonetta Vespucci”)

1475-80
Tempera on poplar
32¼ x 21¼ in.
Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Domenico Ghirlandaio (Domenica Bigordi; Florence, 1448/49-1494, Florence). Portrait of an Old Man and a Boy

Ca. 1490
Tempera on wood
24 ¾ in. x 18 ¼ in.
Département des Peintures, Musée du Louvre, Paris
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Giovanni Bellini (Venice, active by 1459-1516, Venice). Fra Teodoro of Urbino as Saint Dominic

1515
Oil on canvas
25 1/8 x 19½ in.
Victoria and Albert Museum, on long-term loan to The National Gallery, London
From The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Recent The Leonard Lopate Show Slideshows

Guests:

Andrea Bayer and Keith Christiansen

Comments [7]

MichaelB from Morningside Heights

Truly a pleasure to listen to and soooo stimulating... Makes me want to leave work and head straight over to the Met right now!

Feb. 15 2012 12:59 PM

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jgarbuz from Queens

The invention of photography did away with most of the painting profession, and led the way to "modern art," where painting and sculpture came to express emotions rather than capture reality as we see it. So those few who still possess anywhere the fantastic skills of the Renaissance masters are doing it out of love and a need to do so, rather than out of mainly pecuniary considerations.

Feb. 15 2012 12:58 PM

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The Truth from Becky

Love this! (more this, less tea party drama)

Feb. 15 2012 12:55 PM

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C.E. Connelly from Manhattan

What a pleasure it is to listen to people who are so well informed about their subject after enduring the Tea Party know-nothings of the last segment. Leonard's show is at its best with this type of interview.

Feb. 15 2012 12:53 PM

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Laura from UWS

What did the sculptor do to make portrait seem so alive?

Feb. 15 2012 12:50 PM

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uzwicker

I second the first commentator: delicious segment!!! Going up to the Met tomorrow! Thanks!

Feb. 15 2012 12:50 PM

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Laura from UWS

Please ask about Renaissance patrons.....are they different from previous generations?
What kinds of people had the money to commission portraits?

Thank you for this delicious segment!

Feb. 15 2012 12:45 PM

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