DETROIT, MICH.- The Detroit Institute of Arts presents Guests of Honor: Masterpieces of Early Italian Renaissance Bronze Statuettes, a history-making exhibition that showcases four Italian Renaissance bronze statuettes from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, marking the first time these four statues are on display together as a quarter and on view in the United States.

This special presentation – on view now through March 3, 2024 – builds on a decades-long collaboration between the cities of Detroit and Florence, as well as the DIA and the Bargello Museum, a relationship that dates back more than 50 years.

“The DIA is excited to continue our close connection to the Bargello Museum and the city of Florence, and to deepen the display of our impressive Italian Renaissance collection, by offering a one-of-a-kind viewing experience,” said Detroit Institute of Arts Director Salvador Salort-Pons. “Providing extraordinary experiences to the residents of Wayne, Macomb and Oakland Counties as well as all of our visitors, is a top priority at the museum. Furthermore, the ability to include educational materials as a part of the exhibition ensures that our school and senior groups get a full and unique experience.”

The four magnificent Florentine and Mantuan bronzes, all from the 15th Century – The Pugilist by Andrea del Verrocchio; Hercules and Antaeus by Antonio del Pollaiuolo; Orpheus Playing Music by Bertoldo di Giovanni; and Eros Pulling a Bow by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (known as Antico) – exemplify the breathtaking transformations that were hallmarks of the early Italian Renaissance. The statuettes convey themes of love, death, heroism, beauty, strength, and serenity.

The pieces are displayed together with the DIA’s own important bronze statuette of the same period, Judith by Pollaiuolo, in a large pedestal case in the center of the museum’s Tuscan Early Renaissance Gallery, which allows for up close viewing in the round.




Accompanying these five exquisite masterpieces are major works from the DIA’s own collection of Italian Renaissance sculptures, including pieces by Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca and Andrea della Robbia, Benedetto da Maiano and others; Italian paintings by Fra Angelico, Sassetta, Benozzo Gozzoli, Neri di Bicci, and others, as well as early Italian Renaissance maiolica and intarsia walnut furniture.

“We are happy to partner with the Detroit Institute of Arts, as we foster an exceptional alliance that values Italian Renaissance art,” said Dr. Paola D’Agostino, director of the Museo del Bargello. “The DIA’s impressive existing collection provides an ideal setting to share these outstanding masterpieces with American audiences, and we can think of no better institution for their U.S. debut.”

This DIA “Guests of Honor” exhibition is part a long-standing cultural relationship between Detroit and Florence which began nearly 60 years ago. Following the catastrophic 1966 flooding of the Arno River, which damaged or destroyed thousands of rare books and masterpieces of art, Detroit’s Henry Ford II and Christine Ford, along with many DIA patrons, raised money for critical disaster relief. Over the decades, the DIA has collaborated with various museums and colleagues in the Italian city, resulting in several ground-breaking international exhibitions co-organized by DIA and Florentine museums. These include: The Twilight of the Medici: Late Baroque Art in Florence, 1670–1743 (1973–74); Italian Renaissance Sculpture in the Time of Donatello (1985–86); and Magnificenza! The Medici, Michelangelo, and the Art of Late Renaissance Florence (2002–3).

This exhibition is organized by Alan P. Darr, Senior Curator of the European Art Department and Walter B. Ford II Family Curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts, in collaboration with Dr. Benedetta Matucci, curator of the Musei del Bargello and Orsanmichele.

Works on Loan

The Pugilist (ca. 1464-70) attributed to Andrea del Verrocchio, a prominent Florentine sculptor of the Medici court, is inspired by a famous ancient Roman marble group. The subsequent development of the art form is represented by Antonio del Pollaiuolo’s masterpiece Hercules and Antaeus (late 1460s-early 1470s); this is the first two-figure Renaissance bronze statuette designed to be seen in the round. Bertoldo di Giovanni’s Orpheus Playing Music (about 1471) was also among the first bronze compositions to use the dynamic spiral-figure form (figura serpentinata), which encourages the viewer to admire the statuette in the round. While the first three artists were all leading, influential Florentine sculptors active at the Medici court, a contemporary parallel for these innovative bronzes is found in nearby Mantua with Eros Pulling a Bow (1496) by Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (Antico). With their highly finished and exquisitely gilded surfaces, Antico’s bronze sculptures were treasured as reincarnations of the ancients.

“The Bargello’s four early Italian Renaissance bronze statuettes on display with our masterful Pollaiuolo Judith are jewels of the early Italian Renaissance era, resplendent examples of how these artists mastered bronze sculpture,” said Alan P. Darr, Senior Curator of the European Art Department and Walter B. Ford II Family Curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Detroit Institute of Arts. “I’m honored that our close relationship with the Bargello Museum and Friends of the Bargello as well as other major museums of Florence, have led to this wonderful, memorable presentation, allowing our audiences to see the exceptional works and their nuanced and beautiful details up close and in the round.”