THE ETROPOLITAN NEWS USEUM OF ART pQp^ AT WILL M RELEASE FIFTH AYE.at 82 STREET • HEW YORK TR 9-5500 THE GREAT AGE OF FRESCO GIOTTO TO P0NT0RM0 An Exhibition of Mural Paintings and Monumental Drawings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 28-November 15, 1968. For the first and only time in the history of art, a group of 70 Italian frescoes -- painted on the walls of churches, monasteries, convents, and palaces in and near Florence 'between the 13th and l6th centuries -- have been removed from their architectural settings and have crossed the Atlantic this fall. For seven weeks, from September 28 to November 15, these masterpieces will be exhibited at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in its 13 Special Exhibition Galleries. The frescoes will never appear in this country again; once they are returned to Italy they will be installed permanently in their original sites. The frescoes are being lent by the Republic of Italy with the authorization of the Pontifical Commission on Sacred Art. The exhibition has been organized by the Soprintendenza of the Florentine Galleries and is presented in New York, through the generosity of Olivetti, worldwide manufacturers and distributors of business machines. Olivetti's grant, one of the largest ever presented to the Metropolitan by a business corporation, has been made on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the company's founder, Camillo Olivetti. Thomas P. F. Hoving, Director of the Metropolitan, has called this exhibition "literally a transplanting to these shores of the best of the Italian Renaissance." Among the great masters of the Florentine Renaissance represented in the exhibition are Giotto, Taddeo Gaddi, Era Angelico, Masolino, Benozzo Gozzoli, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Andrea Orcagna, Andrea del Sarto, Piero della Francesca, Pollaiuolo, Paolo Uccello, Mino da Fiesole, Nardo di Cione, Lorenzo di Bicci, Andrea del Castagno, Paolo Schiavo, Alessandro Allori, and Pontormo. Included in the group will be nine frescoes from the world famous series of "The Life of St. John the Baptist" by Andrea del Sarto from the Chiostro dello Scalzo in Florence. Many of the frescoes are colossal in size; two by Andrea Orcagna, the "Triumph of Death" and "Hell," are approximately 22 feet by 11 feet. In addition to the frescoes, the artists' monumental working drawings, known as sinopie, will also be shown. The process by which the frescoes were detached, and the drawings underneath them uncovered, is the result of recent and remarkable advances in conservation. The process itself has long been used; however, it was perfected in Florence after the floods of 1966, which endangered many of the frescoes and necessitated their removal from the walls on which they were originally executed. In the detachment process the fresco, which was created by applying pigments to wet plaster, is covered with a water soluble glue over which fabric is placed. The fresco is then removed with the fabric and attached to a methacrylate backing and a laminated wood support. Once the fresco is securely mounted, the fabric comes off with water, and the fresco can be hung like a painting. A similar process detaches the sinopia. Frescoes and sinopie mounted this way are highly resistant to damage from both moisture and movement. There will be a recorded tour of the entire exhibition narrated by Mr. Hoving. In addition, a gallery will be set aside for demonstrations of techniques of making a fresco and of removing it from the wall. A catalogue containing essays by the most important Italian Renaissance scholars alive today, Ugo Procacci and Millard Meiss, together with detailed entries on every fresco and sinopia in the exhibition, will be published by the Museum. Special events include a series of lectures by guest scholars. President Johnson and President Saragat of Italy will serve as honorary patrons of the exhibition, heading two honorary committees, one in the United States and one in Italy, composed of government and church officials and leading private citizens. The exhibition will open to the public on September 28. General admission is $1.00. There will be a special student admission of 50y5 Tuesday through Friday. END FOR FURTHER INFORMATION contact Eleanor Falcon, Ryna Segal, or Linda Sipress, Department of Public Relations, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, N.Y. 10028. Tel. 879-5500. 9:10:68 Attached is a fact sheet with pertinent details concerning the exhibition. In addition, these are available on request: 1. A complete list of frescoes and drawings in the exhibition together with their measurements and the locations from which they come. 2. A list of photographs and slides of several of the frescoes which are suitable for reproduction. 3. An essay from the catalogue by Ugo Procacci, Superintendent of the Florentine Galleries, who organized the exhibition and whose essay deals with the technology of transferring the frescoes. FACT SHEET 1. PRESS BREAKFAST: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, September 2.6th. with special tours of the exhibition. 2. EXHIBITION TITLE: THE GREAT AGE OF FRESCO -- GIOTTO TO PONTORMO An exhibition of 70 mural paintings and monumental drawings organized by the Soprintendenza of the Florentine Galleries. This exhibition is lent by the Republic of Italy with the authority of the Pontifical Commission on Sacred Art. k. This exhibition is presented in America through the generosity of Olivetti on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the company's founder, Camillo Olivetti. EXHIBITION DATES: Saturday, September 28, 1968 to Friday, November 15, 1968 Following its presentation at the Metropolitan, the exhibition will go to the Riiksmuseum in Amsterdam and then to the new Hayward Art Gallery in London, where it will be presented by the Arts Council of Great Britain. The shipment of frescoes arrived in New York at 3 p.m., September 10th, aboard the Cristoforo Colombo of the Italian Line. 8. ADMISSION: Adults -- $1. Students -- 500 Tuesday through Friday. 9. MUSEUM HOURS: Monday-Saturday --10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday -- 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday evenings-- 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. 10. EXHIBITION POSTER: Detail from the fresco "St. Jerome" by Andrea del Castagno. Price -- $1.50. 11. EXHIBITION CATALOG: Approximately 230 pages in length with 13 color plates and 120 black and white illustrations. Introductory essays by Millard Meiss of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, and Ugo Procacci, Soprintendente of the Florentine Galleries. Foreword by Thomas P. F. Hoving, Price -- $4.50. Available approximately Septem­ ber 23. (Much of the material contained in the introductory essays and the individual catalog entries has never been published before in English.) 12. COLOR POSTCARDS: Details from nine of the frescoes in the exhibition will be on sale for 100 each. 13. The Honorable Lyndon B. Johnson, President of the United States, and The Honorable Giuseppe Saragat, President of the Republic of Italy, will serve as Honorary Patrons heading the American and Italian Honorary Committees for the exhibition. Ik. An acoustiguide tour of the exhibition narrated by Thomas P. F. Hoving will be available for 500. 15.. Special exhibition talks in the Galleries on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday mornings at 11 a.m. Films on Italian Renaissance Art in The Junior Museum and The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium during October. 16. FOR MEMBERS; September 27 Members private opening 20 minute talks on the exhibition in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium. October 7 -- Lecture on the frescoes in this exhibition by Millard Meiss of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. 17. ORIENTATION GALLERY: A periodic live demonstration on the techniques of fresco painting and the techniques used to detach the frescoes with supplementary material relating to the exhibition. .