Few artists of the Renaissance enjoyed as much success in their day as Andrea del Sarto, who, from 1515 until his death in 1530, ran one of the most productive ateliers of his time in his native Florence. For all his fame, however, he was all but forgotten in the centuries that followed. That is sure to change on June 23, when 50 drawings — chalk figures, including Study of an Infant Praying , 1525-29, right; renderings of the human form; and compositional studies — and three of the paintings come together in “Andrea del Sarto: The Renaissance Workshop in Action” at the J. Paul Getty Museum. “The works on view demonstrate why del Sarto was so hugely admired in his own day and provide a new understanding of the way Renaissance masterpieces were created,” says Julian Brooks, curator of drawings at the Getty, noting that infrared reflectography of the paintings, undertaken in preparation for the exhibition, reveal chalk sketches on the panels beneath the pigments, which closely match the drawings on view. “Technology has allowed us to bring del Sarto’s work into focus in a way we couldn’t previously,” Brooks says. “We can see its full evolution from the very first idea to the last-minute adjustments as he worked on the paintings.” Following its close on September 13, the show will be at the Frick Collection in New York from October 7 through January 10, 2016.A version of this article appears in the June 2015 issue of Art + Auction.
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