The roots are the condition for flourishing. This natural law aptly explains the phenomenon of the great artistic revival that took place at the threshold of the 15th century in Italy, the main source of inspiration for which was the rediscovered heritage of antiquity. It is this particular moment in history that the exhibition is dedicated to, featuring valuable and rarely traveling artifacts from the world’s most prestigious museums and libraries. In this special compilation, the presented objects form a coherent, multi-dimensional, and fascinating story about the beginnings of the Renaissance – a major breakthrough that, while growing out of a fascination with the past, was to define the future.

The exhibition coincides with the 500th anniversary of the death of Pietro Perugino, an outstanding early Renaissance painter and draftsman, a student of Piero della Francesca and teacher of Raphael Santi, an eyewitness and participant in the depicted transformations.

The theme of the exhibition is the role played in early Renaissance art by the fascination with fragments of the ancient world, manifested in the study of the material remains of Roman civilization and preserved ancient writings – largely forgotten and ignored, and even destroyed throughout the entire Middle Ages. The narrative is maintained in the convention of a dreamy vision – successive topics are connected by a sequence of oneiric associations.

This is the first exhibition in Poland to explore the topic so thoroughly and comprehensively, exemplified by so many valuable artifacts of ancient and early Renaissance art – sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints. Over 160 exhibits on display have been borrowed from over fifty institutions and private collections, including the Borghese Gallery (Rome), Uffizi Gallery (Florence), Estense Gallery (Modena), Louvre, British Museum, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

At the exhibition, one can admire works by such creators as Pietro Perugino, Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi known as Antico, Giovanni Bellini, Sandro Botticelli, Donato Bramante, Bartolomeo Suardo known as Bramantino, Antonio Averlino known as Filarete, Antonio Lombardo, Andrea Mantegna, and Andrea del Verrocchio.

Curator: Dr. Mikołaj Baliszewski