VIRTUAL TOUR
 

The exhibition Italian Renaissance Masters,  presented in conjunction with Milwaukee's Fourth Annual International Arts Festival, showcases the Italian art of the late fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. This exhibition brings together for the first time a selection of works from museums,  galleries and private collections across the country. The majority of the forty-five pieces in the exhibition are panel paintings, which rarely travel. Among the artists represented are such important Renaissance painters as Tintoretto, Ghirlandaio, Jacopo Bassano,  Bordone, Giovanni Larciani, and Michele Tosini. The exhibition also includes some of the more important early Italian pieces in the Haggerty collection such as Christ at the Column by Giovanni Pietro Pedrini [Rizzoli], The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine by an artist within the circle of Lorenzo Sabatini, and an important Florentine Adoration of the Shepherds.

Italian Renaissance Masters features a broad range of styles. The gold ground paintings of individual saints are examples of a medieval tradition that continued to be popular among some patrons. The introduction of geometrical perspective and greater naturalism in painting can be seen in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries or Early Renaissance works. Examples of the anti-classical style known as Mannerism include the Portrait of a Young Man by Francesco Salviati, the Virgin and Child with St. John by an artist within Rosso Fiorentino's circle and Giovanni Larciani's Madonna and Child

A focal point of the exhibition is the Haggerty Museum's recently acquired Portrait of Piero di Domenico Pagni by Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (1483-1561). Ghirlandaio was a leading Renaissance portraitist who maintained a large and successful workshop. Several artists included in the exhibition such as Michele Tosini, Domenico Puligo and the Master of the Apollo and Daphne Legend are historically linked to the "family of Ghirlandaio" having worked as apprentices in their school. Similarities between individual works found throughout the exhibition reflect the close working relationships established in the workshop environment of the time. The sfumato technique of creating soft outlines through the gradation of tones can be seen in Christ the Redeemer by Domenico Puligo, an artist who trained with Ghirlandaio and worked in the workshop of Andrea del Sarto.

Assembled together this group of works reflects the rich artistic traditions in Italy from the late fourteenth through sixteenth centuries. Changes in the types and function of Renaissance art are well represented in individual sacred and profane works in the exhibition. The exhibition surveys the wealth of materials used by Italian artists including gold leaf, Verona marble, gilt bronze, rock crystal, and semi-precious inlay. It also offers a representative selection of the wide range of subjects and genres in Italian Renaissance art including religious images, mythological subjects and portraiture. In particular, the rich and varied Italian Renaissance portraits in the exhibition reflect the growing awareness and  expression of individualism characteristic of the Renaissance period.

Michele Tosini Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist Oil on panel 35 3/4 x 28 3/4 in (90.8 x 73 cm.) Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University	Giovanni di Lorenzo Larciani Madonna and Child Oil on panel 26 1/2 x 19 5/8 in. (67.3 x 49.8 cm.) Bucknell University Art Gallery, Gift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation	Ridolfo Ghirlandaio Portrait of Piero di Domenico Pagni Oil on panel 30 x 24 1/2 in. (76 x 62 cm.) Patrick and Beatrice Haggerty Museum of Art, Museum Purchase, The Mary B. Finnigan Art Endowment Fund, 2000.4	Domenico Puligo  Christ the Redeemer  Oil on panel 19 1/2 x 6 3/4 in. (49.5 x 17 cm.) Courtesy of Piero Corsini Inc., New York