Giovanni Battista Moroni is the New Renaissance Face at the Frick Collection

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Robert Smith

Giovanni Battista Moroni's “Two Donors in Adoration before the Madonna and Child and St. Michael,” circa 1557-60. One of his innovations was removing donors from the religious setting, showing them as citizens of the world.CreditVirginia Museum of Fine Arts

It’s not often that the paintings of an Italian Renaissance master arrive in a New York museum unadorned by the aura of fame and towering talent, but so it is with Giovanni Battista Moroni. The art of this 16th-century painter who excelled at remarkably naturalistic portraits is having its first American survey at the Frick Collection in “Moroni: The Riches of Renaissance Portraiture.” Partly because Moroni’s reputation does not much precede him in this country, the show’s 23 portraits have a stunning freshness and clarity. We have the sense of seeing for ourselves — and there is much to look at. [More]

Frick Collection: “Moroni: The Riches of Renaissance Portraiture” (Through June 2, 2019); 1 East 70th Street New York, NY 10021 212-288-0700; Frick.org