2004

Exhibitions presented at The Frick Collection during 2004.

Special Loan: Raphael's Fornarina

painting of a seated partially-nude woman wearing a turban and holding her exposed breasts
Special Loan: Raphael's Fornarina
December 2, 2004 to February 3, 2005

From December 2004 through January 2005, in collaboration with the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture, The Frick Collection displayed La Fornarina by Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) from the National Gallery of Art at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. Painted around 1518 and signed by the artist, this celebrated work has never before been exhibited in the United States.

Past Exhibition: European Bronzes

cover of the catalogue for the exhibition European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection with a close-up of a bronze sculpture of a man with curly hair and beard

European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection

September 28, 2004 to January 2, 2005

Created to delight and engage their audiences over countless viewings, bronze statuettes enjoyed immense popularity with rulers and the wealthy educated classes who collected them between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. The Frick Collection was pleased to have, as its special fall exhibition, European Bronzes from the Quentin Collection, the first public presentation of a distinguished, little-known private collection devoted to the art of these small- and medium-scale sculptures.

Past Exhibition: The Unfinished Print

cover of the catalogue for the exhibition The Unfinished Print with a print of a man with a long white beard and wearing a black hat, which he touches with his left hand

The Unfinished Print

June 2, 2004 to August 15, 2004

When is a work of art complete? And when do further additions detract from the desired result? These questions lie at the heart of aesthetic theory and have preoccupied artists, critics, and collectors for centuries. The problem of "finish" is particularly relevant in the graphic arts, in which images are developed in stages and often distributed at various points in their making.

Special Loan: Portrait of a Man with a Book by Parmigianino

half-length portrait of a man wearing a hat and holding book against a dark background

Special Loan: Portrait of a Man with a Book by Parmigianino

April 18, 2004 to November 21, 2004

Frick Collection visitors had the extended opportunity to view a painting by the Renaissance artist Parmigianino (1503–40), Portrait of a Man with a Book. The work was on loan from the York Art Gallery, and took its place as part of the highly praised special exhibition A Beautiful and Gracious Manner: The Art of Parmigianino, which closed to the public on April 18 after setting winter attendance records.

Past Exhibition: A Beautiful and Gracious Manner

cover of the catalogue for the exhibition The Art of Parmigianino with sketch of the torso and legs of a figure wrapped in drapery

A Beautiful and Gracious Manner: The Art of Parmigianino

January 27, 2004 to April 18, 2004

Born in Parma in 1503 and known as Parmigianino after his native city, Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola lived only thirty-seven years, yet in that brief time the quantity, variety, and sheer beauty of his drawings came to exemplify the art of draftsmanship. Less than twenty years after his death, the theorist Ludovico Dolce observed, "Parmigianino endowed his creations with a certain beauty which makes whoever looks at them fall in love with them. So delicate and accurate was his draftsmanship that every drawing of his . . . . astonishes the eyes of the beholder."