Piero di Cosimo, “Liberation of Andromeda,” c. 1510–1513, oil on panel, Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence

February 1 – May 3, 2015 at the National Gallery of Art

The first major retrospective exhibition of paintings by Florentine Italian Renaissance master painter Piero di Cosimo (1462-1522) opened at the National Gallery of Art on February 1, 2015, on view through May 3, 2015. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence features 44 of the artist’s most compelling and versatile paintings ranging from the pagan to the divine, including fanciful mythologies, powerful religious works, (with some loaned paintings from Italian churches), and portraits. Several important paintings underwent conservation prior to the exhibition, among them the National Gallery’s Visitation altarpiece (c. 1489/1490)—one of the artist’s largest surviving works, created over 500 years ago for Florence’s church of Santo Spirito.

Piero di Cosimo, “The Visitation with Saints Nicholas and Anthony Abbot,” c. 1489-1490, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H Kress Collection

Following dates at the NGA, a different version of the exhibition, including work by Piero’s contemporaries (Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo), will be on view at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence from June 23 through September 27, 2015, entitled Piero di Cosimo (1462–1522): Pittore fiorentino “eccentrico” fra Rinascimento e Maniera.