Exhibition Talk | “Siena: The Art of Bronze: A Conservator’s Perspective”

“Siena: The Art of Bronze: A Conservator’s Perspective”
Vicky Schussler, Conservator, The Frick Collection

Exhibition Talks bring specific works, themes, or questions into focus to enrich visitors’ experience of the Frick’s special exhibitions. Offered in connection with Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500, this brief talk compares two remarkable, large-scale bronzes featured in the exhibition: the Gisant of Mariano Sozzini the Elder and the Tomb slab of Giovanni di Bartolomeo Pecci, Bishop of Grosseto and Istia d’Ombrone. Schussler explores from the perspective of an objects conservator how technical examination—including direct visual observation, high-quality photography, and instrumental analysis—can inform our understanding of Renaissance bronzes.

Please meet in the Ian Wardropper Education Room. Assistive listening devices will be available upon request.

A repeat session of this program will be offered on December 7 at 1:00 PM.

Free with admission; no registration required.

Pictured: Donatello (Italian, ca. 1386–1466), Tomb Slab of Giovanni di Bartolomeo Pecci, Bishop of Grosseto and Istia d’Ombrone (detail), ca. 1452. Medium-tin bronze (slab), with patinated copper and traces of polychrome enamels or resins, 98 1/4 × 42 1/16 × approx. 1 in. (249.5 × 106.8 × approx. 2.5–3 cm). Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Siena.