Bronzes That Seldom Leave Italy Settle In at the Frick

The Frick Collection in New York has opened "Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500," an exhibition devoted to the metalwork of a single Tuscan city in the second half of the fifteenth century. The pieces on view are the kind that almost never travel, and their loan to an American museum is the occasion here. For a reader on the Upper East Side, the chance to study Sienese bronze at close range without a flight to Italy is the real news. The show is also the opening chapter in a three-year partnership between the Frick and a French luxury house, with further projects to follow. Siena is often remembered for its painters, and this exhibition makes the case for its bronze casters as artists worth the same attention. For collectors and students of the Renaissance, it is a rare chance to look closely at half a century of work in one room.

With reporting from Galerie.