The cymatium of Pietro Perugino’s Altarpiece of the Decemvirs kept at the National Gallery of Umbria will be featured in an exhibition in New York from Feb. 7 to April 30, 2026, hosted by the Morgan Library & Museum. Perugino ’s work will dialogue with Giovanni Bellini’s Pieta from the Museum of the City of Rimini and other Renaissance works in the Morgan’s collection, including paintings by Hans Memling and sculptures by Antonio Rossellino. The exhibition is supported as main sponsor by Brunello Cucinelli.
Prior to the exhibition, the cymatium will be from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4 at Sotheby’s New York office in the Breuer Building on Madison Avenue.
The exhibition is part of an important cultural context: the eighth centenary of the death of St. Francis of Assisi will be celebrated in 2026, with a major event scheduled from March 14 to June 14 at the National Gallery of Umbria. The presence of the cimasa in New York allows the importance of Umbrian painting in the international art scene to be highlighted, underscoring Perugino’s role as one of the main protagonists of the Italian Renaissance.
The cymatium, known as Imago Pietatis, was painted by Perugino in 1495 to surmount the Decemviri Altarpiece, conceived for the Cappella dei Priori in Perugia and now housed in the Vatican Museums. Both works originally remained in the chapel until 1797, when Napoleonic troops took the Altarpiece to Paris, leaving the cymatium in place. The U.S. initiative is accompanied by the birth of Friends of Umbria, a fundraising project intended for the National Museums of Umbria, created in collaboration with Dr. Mitchell Levine and the Myriad Foundation, which specializes in international fundraising for the protection of cultural heritage. Through this partnership, Perugino becomes a spokesman for Italian art and Umbrian museums in New York.
The exhibition program continues with other important Italian works in the U.S.: Perugino’s Madonna of Consolation and Pinturicchio’s processional banner Saint Augustine and Other Figures will be on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from March 29 to June 28, while Francesco di Giorgio Martini’s Flagellation of Christ will be presented at the Frick Collection in October. In addition, Perugino’sGonfalone della Giustizia will represent Italy at the country’s Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka.
“This path,” emphasizes Costantino D’Orazio, Director of the National Gallery of Umbria, “aims to project Umbria’s state museums beyond national borders, broadening the pool of audiences from nations that have always been sensitive to the history, art and charm of our culture and heritage. In this way, in the wake of the great international museums, which have long taken this route, our places of culture will also be able to benefit from extraordinary funds and act as a driving force for the attractiveness of the entire territory.”
“There is a significant moment when a masterpiece leaves its home to tell its story to a new audience: it is as if the memory of an area becomes a bridge. For us,” says Carolina Cucinelli, Vice President of Brunello Cucinelli, “supporting the Perugino in New York is an honor and an act of gratitude to Umbria, which has been guarding beauty and spirituality for centuries. The work speaks a universal language and we are happy that, thanks to this initiative, it can arrive in New York and dialogue with the great masters of the Renaissance in one of the most prestigious cultural places in the world.”
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| Perugino in New York: the cymatium of the Decemvirs Altarpiece on display at the Morgan Library |
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