Bronze was expensive. It was hard to work. And it had a dangerous second use. When a city needed weapons, bronze could go into the furnace. So every Renaissance bronze still around is a survivor. The Frick Collection in New York has gathered a show full of them from Siena.
The show is Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450-1500. It runs through Jan. 18, 2027. Karen Wilkin, reviewing it in the Journal, calls it “a delight and an education.” Siena is famous for its painters. The Met's big 2024 show was about them. Its sculptors get far less attention. Frick curator Giulio Dalvit has spent his five years there drawing attention to bronze. With a team of experts, he pulled medals, reliefs, tomb figures and small statues from collections around the world, including pieces straight from Siena.
One highlight is a tomb slab by Donatello, made around 1452 for the Bishop of Grosseto. It normally lies in the floor of Siena's cathedral. Centuries of shoes have worn it down, and the figure still reads clearly. Donatello spent four hard years in Siena. The city didn't love Florentines. Nearby is the tomb figure of the jurist Mariano Sozzini the Elder. His face, hands and feet were probably cast from the dead man himself.
What the metal was really for
Wilkin reminds us what else bronze made. Cannons, bells, candelabra, the rings that tethered horses. Art shared its metal with weapons, and any statue could be melted down and recast. That makes the pieces that survived feel precious. Wilkin singles out Francesco di Giorgio's reliefs. He could make bronze look like wind moving through cloth. The Frick's own Vecchietta, a Resurrection of Christ from 1472, is here too. Siena sat on the pilgrim road from Northern Europe to Rome, so news from elsewhere arrived often. Its artists seem to have paid attention.
Our read
This is an Estate story, and a small one about collectibles. Bronze survived in Siena only when nobody melted it down. Households work the same way. The things that reach the next generation tend to be the ones somebody wrote down, insured and named. The rest too often gets lost in a move, sold at an estate sale, or cashed out by a relative who didn't know what it was.
Here's the check this week. Walk through your house with your phone. Photograph the five things you'd most hate to lose, whether that's a painting, a ring, a watch or your grandmother's silver. Then open your homeowners policy and see whether they're listed. Many policies cap what they'll pay for unlisted jewelry and silver at a modest amount. Last, check that the will or a letter of wishes says who gets each one. You don't wait for the smoke to find out what was in the drawer. One afternoon on that list, then a short review of the will, is the cheapest estate work there is.