A Renaissance Treasure Is Making Its U.S. Debut at Sotheby's

"Sotheby's debuts Old Masters Week at the Breuer with a rare Renaissance work. Perugino's Decemviri Altarpiece cimasa travels outside Italy for the first time, on view at Sotheby's before heading to the Morgan Library. Bellini's newly restored Pietà also makes its U.S. debut at the Morgan Library alongside Perugino's panel. This weekend, Sotheby's is kicking off the first Old Masters week at its new Breuer building digs with a showcase of the masterpieces heading to the block."

""To welcome the of Perugino's at the Breuer-a space long associated with American modernism-is profoundly meaningful," Decemviri Altarpiece George Wachter, the auction house's chairman of Old Master paintings, said in a statement. "Seeing the work enter into dialogue with artists who themselves fell under his spell gives the moment extraordinary resonance." Renaissance painter Perugino was active in Florence and Perugia at the end of the 15th century, making his name on compositions that bore out his mastery of light, atmosphere, and narrative. His were scenes of serene proportion-as seen in the (1490-93)-and compositional elegance, borne out in his lone surviving Adoration of the Magi (ca. 1476) and The Vision of St. Bernard Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter Sistine Chapel fresco, . Raphael, for one, ."

Sotheby's is staging its first Old Masters Week at the Breuer, presenting works destined for auction and museum loans. Perugino's Decemviri Altarpiece cimasa is traveling outside Italy for the first time and will be on view at Sotheby's before heading to the Morgan Library. Bellini's newly restored Pietà will make its U.S. debut at the Morgan Library alongside Perugino's panel. The Breuer showcase includes varied highlights such as a young lion, a mummy portrait dating to the 1st century C.E., and a Jewish prayerbook once held by the Rothschilds. Perugino worked in Florence and Perugia in the late 15th century and became known for mastery of light, atmosphere, proportion, and compositional elegance.

Read at Artnet News