National Gallery to stage first monographic show of Piero della Francesca
The London museum will reunite dispersed panels from the Renaissance master's altarpieces for an exhibition opening in October 2027.
The National Gallery has announced plans to stage the first fully monographic exhibition devoted to Piero della Francesca, the 15th-century Italian Renaissance painter whose work influenced modern artists from Paul Cézanne to David Hockney. The show will open on 2 October 2027 and run through 30 January 2028 in the Sainsbury Wing.
The exhibition will draw approximately 25 paintings and manuscripts spanning della Francesca’s career from his early period in Borgo San Sepolcro in Tuscany through his years working for powerful patrons in Ferrara, Rimini, Rome and Urbino, before his return to his hometown. Three works already in the National Gallery’s collection—The Baptism of Christ (probably 1437–45), Saint Michael (1469), and The Nativity (early 1480s)—will form the core of the presentation.
Reuniting dispersed masterpieces
By reassembling panels from della Francesca’s disassembled altarpieces in purpose-made settings, the exhibition will offer visitors a chance to see these works together for the first time in centuries, according to the National Gallery.
Della Francesca’s artistic method
The exhibition will be organized around seven interlocking elements that define della Francesca’s practice: colour, design, space, perspective, narrative and light. The painter, born around 1407 or 1411, was a mathematical theorist whose scientific approach to perspective infused his work with geometric rigour. His palette favoured cool tones, and his compositions convey a meditative serenity. He worked in Florence, Rome, and at the courts of central Italy’s most powerful patrons, including the Duke of Urbino and Pope Pius II, while maintaining ties to his Tuscan homeland throughout his life.
Digital representation of unrelocatable works
The exhibition will incorporate digital resources to represent major mural paintings that cannot travel. A digital installation will present della Francesca’s fresco cycle depicting the story of the True Cross, housed in the Bacci Chapel at the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, allowing visitors to experience narrative works they could not otherwise see in the exhibition space.
Curatorial framework and scholarship
According to the National Gallery, the show is co-curated by Laura Llewellyn, who oversees Italian paintings before 1500 at the museum, and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls from the Rijksmuseum and the University of Amsterdam. A fully illustrated catalogue featuring contributions from both curators and additional scholars will accompany the exhibition, drawing on decades of art historical research and recent developments in understanding della Francesca’s techniques and working methods. Mrs Peggy Czyzak-Dannenbaum is supporting the exhibition.
This article was compiled by the CityLifeBytes editorial desk from the official announcements and reporting listed under Sources.
