ATLANTA.- An exhibition of 44 medieval and Renaissance masterpieces from one of the world’s finest collections will be on view at the High Museum of Art beginning September 13, 2008, through January 4, 2009. This internationally traveling exhibition of rare treasures from the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) presents works dating from 300 to 1600 AD, many of which have never before traveled to the U.S. Following the tour, the works will be returned to newly restored galleries at the V&A in London.

“The V&A is known worldwide for its exquisite collection of medieval and Renaissance work from intricate decorative arts to delicate devotional and religious objects. Visitors will come up-close with some of the rarest of these treasures here at the High, as well as have the opportunity to witness the marriage of beauty with outstanding craftsmanship,” said Michael E. Shapiro, the Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr. Director of the High Museum of Art. “Medieval and Renaissance Treasures” features mostly small-scale works, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics and glass. The foundations of the collection were laid during the 19th century when the museum was known as the South Kensington Museum. Highlights include a Leonardo da Vinci notebook, the “Codex Forster I“; the “Symmachi Panel,” a 5th-century Roman ivory possibly carved to commemorate a wedding; the front cover of the “Lorsch Gospels,” a richly decorated ivory cover of the Gospels made for an abbey in Charlemagne’s Germany; the “Basilewsky Situla,” a small vessel used by priests to hold holy water and gifted to the Emperor Otto II in 980; a pair of gilt-bronze statuettes of prophets from an altarpiece by Hubert Gerhard; and Donatello’s bronze “Putto with Fish.”

“Medieval and Renaissance Treasures” is organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This exhibition is supported by The Buckhead Community Bank and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. The exhibition debuted at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (June 23 through October 7, 2007), and then traveled to the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Fla. (October 20, 2007, through January 6, 2008). Additional venues include the Speed Art Museum, Louisville (January 22 through April 20, 2008); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (May 19 through August 17); the High Museum of Art, Atlanta (September 13, 2008, through January 4, 2009); and Millennium Galleries, Sheffield, U.K. (January 29 through May 24, 2009). In fall 2009 the works will be reinstalled in the new galleries at the V&A. “Medieval and Renaissance Treasures” is accompanied by a fully illustrated program book featuring the works that will be on view at the High Museum of Art, in addition to other pieces from the V&A’s collections.