A rare early Renaissance painting by Pietro Lorenzetti, which underwent extensive conservation at the National Gallery in London, goes on show today (13 January) at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, which reopens after a £5.2m revamp. The relaunch of the 90-year-old- gallery marks the beginning of Hull’s tenure as the UK’s City of Culture.
Lorenzetti’s work, Christ Between Saints Peter and Paul (around 1320), is the centrepiece of the exhibition Pietro Lorenzetti: Siena to Hull, a Masterpiece Revealed (until 23 April). The work—a panel painting with a gold background that formed part of a larger altarpiece—was cleaned and retouched by conservators. The government placed an export bar on the work in 2013.
The National Gallery in London has also loaned a selection of works for the show by artists such as Giotto and Cimabue. Gabriele Finaldi, the director of the National Gallery, says in a statement: “The loan of a group of masterpieces from early 14th-century Italy provides an exquisite context for the Ferens’s newly-acquired painting by Pietro Lorenzetti which has been beautifully restored at the National Gallery.”
Among the other exhibitions lined up for the Ferens is Francis Bacon: Nervous System (21 January-1 May), a display of Francis Bacon’s “Screaming Popes” paintings, including Head VI (1949) from the Arts Council Collection. Meanwhile, the Royal Collection Trust will lend five works to the gallery including Rembrandt’s 1633 masterpiece The Shipbuilder and his Wife (1 April-28 August). Later this year, the Turner Prize exhibition from the Tate will tour to the Ferens (26 September-7 January 2018).
Funders towards the galley refurbishment—which involved upgrading the temperature, lighting and humidity systems—include Hull City Council (£3.7m), the Arts Council England (£500,000) and the government (£1m).
