Piero della Francesca's Sant'Agostino Polyptych Reunited After 555 Years in Milan

For the first time in 555 years, the surviving panels of Piero della Francesca's Sant'Agostino Polyptych are reunited at the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan. The polyptych, commissioned by the Augustinians of Sansepolcro around 1454–1469, was dismembered by the late 19th century and dispersed across private and public collections. Of the eight surviving panels, only one remained in Italy—the San Nicola da Tolentino panel at the Poldi Pezzoli. The reunion was made possible by the temporary closure of the Frick Collection in New York for renovation, which allowed its four panels (San Giovanni Evangelista, Crocifissione, Santa Monica, San Leonardo) to travel. Other lenders include the National Gallery of Art in Washington (Santa Apollonia), the National Gallery of London (San Michele Arcangelo), and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon (Sant'Agostino). The exhibition, curated by Machtelt Brüggen Israëls and Nathaniel Silver, runs from March 20 to June 24, 2024. The installation by Italo Rota and Carlo Ratti Associati recreates the lighting of Piero's workshop using Artemide's Discovery Space Spot technology. Diagnostic studies on the Poldi Pezzoli panel, funded by Fondazione Bracco, revealed new insights into the panel's construction and the lost central panel depicting the Coronation of the Virgin.