EXHIBITION: Perugino: Raphael’s Master, München, Alte Pinakothek, (Barer Straße 27, Eingang Theresienstraße), 13 October 2011 – 15 January 2012.
Pietro Perugino was one of the most successful artists of the Italian Renaissance around 1500. Prominent patrons courted his attention even some distance from Florence and Perugia, the centres in which he worked. It was not just the classical harmony and technical skill of his paintings that his contemporaries admired, but their contemplative, lyrical mood in particular.
In 1829, King Ludwig I of Bavaria managed to acquire one of the master’s principal works, The Vision of Saint Bernard, for the Alte Pinakothek. This altarpiece is an invitation to rid Perugino of the shadow cast by his pupil Raphael. The Munich exhibition is the first major show outside Italy to be devoted entirely to Perugino. It comprises 40 exquisite paintings on loan from international collections (including the Uffizi Gallery, the Louvre and the Hermitage), focussing in particular on the heyday of the artist’s career. Apart from the impressive religious works, unique examples of Perugino’s skill as a portraitist and of his mythological creations vividly illustrate the humanist ideals of the times.
A detailed catalogue, edited by Andreas Schumacher, is being published for the exhibition with contributions by Matteo Burioni, Rudolf Hiller von Gaertringen, Annette Hojer, Oliver Kase, Jens Niebaum and Andreas Schumacher.
Published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern 2011, 304 pages, 193 illustrations. Price: €29,90 (in the museum shop), €39,80 (trade edition).