Fourteenth-century Siena entered the spotlight in 2024–25, when the Met in New York and the National Gallery in London put on a major exhibition of Sienese paintings made between 1300 and 1350. Ensuring the Tuscan city remains at the centre of art lovers’ art-historical awareness, the Frick is turning its attention to Sienese sculptors working a century later to bring an often-ignored area of scholarship into clearer view (15 October–18 January 2027). A story of supreme technique, finish and connoisseurial appreciation plays against rivalries both individual and regional – that is, between Siena and Florence – to reveal a rich and fascinating chapter in the development of Renaissance art. One of three rooms is devoted to Donatello: although he didn’t produce a single sculpture in the five years he spent in Siena, thanks to widespread anti-Florentine sentiment, a tomb slab he made for a local bishop that was cast before he arrived in the city is presented here to convey his mastery of illusionism and his influence on Sienese sculpture. Many of the 40 statues, reliefs, candelabra and other works on view here have never been seen outside of Tuscany, making this a rare chance to see the technical invention and ambition of artists working with bronze in 15th-century Siena.
Find out more from the Frick Collection’s website.
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