Verrocchio and the Interplay between the Arts

Sir Nicholas Penny, currently visiting professor, National Academy of Art, Hangzhou; previously director, National Gallery, London (2008–2015); former senior curator of sculpture, National Gallery of Art (2002–2008) Verrocchio: Sculptor and Painter of Renaissance Florence is the first-ever monographic exhibition in the United States on Andrea del Verrocchio (c. 1435–1488). The National Gallery of Art is the sole American venue of the exhibition that runs from September 15, 2019 through January 12, 2020. Verrocchio was both a draftsman and modeler whose designs were carried out in painting and sculpture by his own hand, but also by pupils and assistants, including Leonardo da Vinci, Pietro Perugino, and likely Sandro Botticelli. In this lecture held on December 15, 2019, Sir Nicholas Penny argues that Verrocchio was one of the most influential of all European artists because he developed practices that came to be of fundamental importance in subsequent centuries, notably the separate study of drapery, the nude, and expressive heads and hands.