Duccio, The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain, 1308–11. The Frick Collection, New York. Wikimedia Commons, public domain
"From Bronze to Gold: Experiencing Sienese Art"
The Frick Collection, New York 🇺🇸, 5 November 2026 (repeated 14 December 2026 and 14 January 2027)
The Frick's autumn exhibition Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500 (15 October 2026 – 18 January 2027) is about sculpture, and it falls well after our period. One of its related programmes, though, brings the museum's own Sienese gold grounds into the conversation.
In a short exhibition talk, Stephanie Wisowaty, Anne L. Poulet Curatorial Fellow at the Frick, starts with Vecchietta's bronze Resurrection and then turns to two Sienese gold-ground paintings in the permanent collection: Duccio's The Temptation of Christ on the Mountain (1308–11), originally displayed on the back of the Maestà, and Christ Bearing the Cross, with a Dominican Friar, which the Frick catalogues as Circle of Simone Martini (c. 1350). The talk moves between bronze and gold leaf to ask how material, surface, light and scale shape the way we encounter sacred images.
Circle of Simone Martini, Christ Bearing the Cross, with a Dominican Friar, c. 1350. The Frick Collection, New York. Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Practical notes
The talk lasts fifteen minutes, 13:00–13:15 New York time (EST), which is 19:00–19:15 CET. It repeats at the same time on 14 December 2026 and 14 January 2027. It is free with museum admission and needs no registration. Meet in the Ian Wardropper Education Room. Assistive listening devices are available on request. Questions: education@frick.org.
The Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street, New York, frick.org
Open Monday and Wednesday–Sunday 10:30–17:30, closed Tuesday.
