An outstanding collection of Renaissance statuettes will go on view at the National Gallery of Art, in “Bronze and Boxwood: Masterpieces from the Robert H. Smith Collection,” January 27⁍ay 4. In addition to 46 bronze sculptures, the exhibition will include eight exceptional objects carved out of boxwood and ivory, which are similar in size to the bronzes and may be closely related to them.
The Robert H. Smith collection, one of the most important private collections of bronze sculpture, was last on view at the National Gallery of Art in 2002 for the opening of the then-new sculpture galleries. This new exhibition includes more than a dozen works acquired since that time, including four masterpieces by Giambologna, Antico and Giovanni Francesco Susini.
Robert H. Smith, now trustee emeritus, was president of the National Gallery of Art from 1993 until 2003. “We are very fortunate to have an important collector such as Robert H. Smith make his outstanding sculptures available to gallery visitors,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. “Over the years, not only has Smith donated major works to our collection, but he has also provided vital leadership in his former role as gallery president.”
The Smith collection comprises exceptionally fine works by major contemporaries and successors of Michelangelo, including many by the sculptor Giambologna (1529‱608). In this exhibition, two significant additions to the collection by Giambologna will be on view: a superb cast of his “Cesarini Venus” (late Sixteen or early Seventeenth century), which was once in the French royal collection, and the finest and earliest version of his famous “Birdcatcher,” late Sixteenth Century.
A group of eight dramatic boxwood and ivory carvings, the majority of them by the German sculptor Leonhard Kern (1588‱662), expands the focus of the exhibition. In Seventeenth Century Europe, carvers had greater access to ivory, but also used pear, cherry and other hardwoods, which had a color close to that of bronze sculpture.
The exhibition curator is Nicholas Penny, senior curator of sculpture and decorative arts, who was co-curator of the 2007 exhibition “Desiderio da Settignano: Sculptor of Renaissance Florence.”
The exhibition is in the West Building, main floor galleries 74 and 75. The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden, on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, are free to the public. For information, www.nga.gov , 202-737-4215 or TDD, 202-842-6176.
