The Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition Tour

Tuesday, 27 August 2019

The Metropolitan Museum of Art observed the 500-year anniversary of the death of the great Renaissance master, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), with its exhibition, “Leonardo da Vinci’s Saint Jerome.”   The painting was lent to The Metropolitan Museum with collegial generosity by The Vatican Museums.

St. Jerome Praying in the Wilderness is one of the six works universally and unquestionably recognized as by the hand of Leonardo.  The painting, begun in 1482 and constantly re-worked by the artist until his death in 1519, is famous for its artistic quality, its representing the epitome of Leonardo’s anatomical studies, and its drama and psychological insight, capturing as it does the painter’s spiritual life during his last decades.

At The MET, the painting was displayed in a gallery by itself, starkly illuminated within an otherwise sober and dark space in order to heighten the picture’s contemplative, spiritual dimension.  The solemn chapel-like setting was intended to heighten the profound contemplative dimension of the painting as well as to evoke the funerals of great Italian artists, which typically featured one of the artist’s works as part of the funerary display.

On 27 August 2019, Dr. Carmen Bambach, Curator of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition, conducted a guided tour of the painting for a group of 45 NY Chapter Board Members, NY Chapter Members, and friends.  Drawing on her immensely rich knowledge acquired over a 24 year period during which she penned the just published 4-volume work, Leonardo da Vinci Rediscovered, Dr. Bambach presented an elucidating and engaging guided tour of the painting and its significance in Leonardo’s oeuvre.