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Andrea del Verrocchio's Madonna and Child, c. 1475, is a terracotta relief with traces of polychromy and gilding, on loan from Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence.

Verrocchio Exhibition Coming to the National Gallery

Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence is the first comprehensive monographic exhibition in the United States on Andrea del Verrocchio. The National Gallery of Art will be the sole American venue for the exhibition, which opens on Sunday, September 15 and continues through January 12, 2020.

The innovative artist, painter and sculptor was also an important teacher and mentor in the cradle of Renaissance Florence. His pupils included Leonardo da Vinci (see Part I of the Italian Tribune’s series on Leonardo), Pietro Perugino and Sandro Botticelli. Driven by a passion for inquiry and innovation, Verrocchio demonstrated his ideas through a variety of mediums that he used in his works of art.

The exhibition will bring together 50 of his masterpieces in painting, sculpture and drawing. The exhibition will allow viewers to appreciate how his work in each art form stimulated creativity in the others. Groundbreaking technical research explores Verrocchio’s materials and techniques, offering revelations about his artistic choices.

As a sculptor, Verrocchio was the most important figure in Renaissance art between Donatello and Michelangelo, making works of unprecedented technical accomplishment and breathtaking naturalism and beauty. As a painter, he formed a direct link in the central chain of Florentine painting between his master, Fra Filippo Lippi and his pupil, Leonardo da Vinci. As a draftsman, he was a pivotal figure who explored new media techniques and functions of drawing and profoundly influenced Leonardo, Raphael, and others. As a teacher, he headed a studio that became a kind of laboratory for experimentation and innovation and helped lead to the creation of the High Renaissance in the early 16th century.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art in collaboration with the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, both located in Florence, Italy. The National Gallery of Art, West Building is located at Fourth Street and Constitution Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.