Once-in-a-lifetime works of Renaissance Master Piero di Cosimo at National Gallery of Art!

If you have not visited Florence, Italy (Firenze)- you must go! It is Italy's core of art, music, food and wine.  I lived in Florence for a summer just steps away from Piazzale Michelangelo.  For those that have frequented Firenze, you know the very long steps I speak of to that breathtaking panoramic view of the adorned city - the Duomo, the Uffizi, the Ponte Vecchio, the Arno and more captured in a breath.  With each view, I questioned if what I was seeing was real.  So Surreal.  I am overcome with nostalgia with each word I type. Craving that frothy cafe macchiato from the cozy corner cafe and the delightful Tuscan Reserve at that fabulously hip wine bar next door. Oh my beautiful Firenze, you make me fall in love with you every time I utter your name.

And so it is with much love that I bring you news of
the first major retrospective exhibition ever presented of paintings by the imaginative Florentine Renaissance master Piero di Cosimo (1462–1522) to premiere at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from February 1 through May 3, 2015. Piero di Cosimo: The Poetry of Painting in Renaissance Florence will showcase some 40 of the artist's most compelling works. With themes ranging from the pagan to the divine, the works include loans from churches in Italy and one of his greatest masterpieces, Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Elizabeth of Hungary, Catherine of Alexandria, Peter, and John the Evangelist with Angels (completed by 1493), from the Museo degli Innocenti, Florence.

"We are delighted to share the brilliance of Piero di Cosimo—the Renaissance's most spellbinding storyteller—with our visitors," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. "This is also the first time the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence has co-organized a paintings exhibition with another museum and we look forward to many more projects with our Italian partners."

After Washington, a different version of the exhibition, including work by Piero's contemporaries, will be on view at the Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence from June 23 through September 27, 2015, entitled Piero di Cosimo (1462–1522): Pittore fiorentino "eccentrico" fra Rinascimento e Maniera.

The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Galleria degli Uffizi, Soprintendenza Speciale per il patrimonio storico, artistico, ed etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della città di Firenze.

The exhibition is supported by Sally Engelhard Pingree and The Charles Engelhard Foundation. The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art provided additional funding.