Luke Syson to Head MMA's European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department
By STAN PARCHIN
June 30, 2011
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| The Metropolitan Museum of Art (exterior) (2006). Photograph courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
Luke Syson, an eminent authority on early Italian Renaissance painting, assumes the role of Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art, effective January 2012. He replaces
Ian Wardropper, who becomes Director of the nearby Frick Collection in October 2011.
Currently Curator of Italian Paintings before 1500 and Head of Research at London's National Gallery, Mr. Syson received his B.A. from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. His three years of Ph.D. studies there emphasized ruler portraiture in 15th-century Milan, Ferrara and Mantua.
The British Museum's former Curator of Medals (1991-2002), Syson organized
Enlightenment: Discovering the World in the Eighteenth Century (2003), a permanent installation in the institution's former King's Library. In 2002-03, the scholar served as a senior curator for the Victoria and Albert Museum's renovated and expanded Medieval and Renaissance Galleries. As the National Gallery's Curator of Italian Paintings, 1460-1500 (2003-09), he redisplayed the Salisbury Wing's early Renaissance works.
Luke Syson was co-curator of the National Gallery’s special exhibitions
Pisanello: Painter to the Renaissance Court (2001-02) and
Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian (2008-09). He was responsible for
Renaissance Siena: Art for a City (2007-08). Mr. Syson is the curator of
Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan (2011-12). The author contributed essays to the shows' catalogues and articles to various scholarly journals. He co-wrote
Objects of Virtue: Art in Renaissance Italy (2001).
Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, said, "I am enormously pleased to announce the appointment of Luke Syson. His scholarship and experience are far-reaching, and his work embraces painting, sculpture and the decorative arts. I look forward to working with him. Luke is a curator who transcends medium boundaries."