National Gallery to Host Major Piero della Francesca Exhibition in 2027

The National Gallery in London is set to open the largest ever exhibition devoted to Piero della Francesca, a prominent Italian Renaissance painter. The exhibition will run from 2 October 2027 to 30 January 2028. It will bring together important works from several renowned collections, providing a rare opportunity to view these pieces in one location.

Among the works to be displayed is The Urbino Diptych—Portraits of Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza, created around 1472. This diptych will be loaned from the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, marking a significant inclusion in the exhibition.

The exhibition will also feature the entire Pala di Perugia (Perugia Altarpiece, 1468), which will come from the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia. This altarpiece is a notable example of Piero della Francesca’s religious commissions.

Another highlight is the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Four Angels, dated around 1460–70, which will be loaned from the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. This painting adds to the international scope of the exhibition.

Three works from the National Gallery’s own collection will serve as centrepieces: Baptism of Christ (probably about 1437–45), Saint Michael (1469), and The Nativity (early 1480s). These pieces represent key moments in Piero’s career and will be prominently featured.

A digital version of The Legend of the True Cross, originally painted in the Bacci Chapel of the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, will also be included. This digital presentation allows visitors to experience a major fresco cycle that cannot travel.

The exhibition will be structured around seven interlocking building blocks of Piero’s art, as described by the gallery: colour, design, space, perspective, narrative, and light. The show is co-curated by Laura Llewellyn of the National Gallery and Machtelt Brüggen Israëls of the Rijksmuseum and the University of Amsterdam. Sponsors include Intesa Sanpaolo bank and philanthropist John J. Studzinski. Piero della Francesca was also the author of a treatise on perspective, De prospectiva pingendi, which discussed the creation of three-dimensional illusions and techniques for painting faces.