Overview: 79 paintings created in the northern Italian province between 1500 and 1700 were shown. John Pope-Hennessy of the Metropolitan Museum in New York chose the 16th-century Emilian paintings, Sydney Freedberg of the National Gallery chose the 17th-century works, and Andrea Emiliani of the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Bologna oversaw negotiations and loans in Italy. Each venue showed a slight variation of the exhibition.

Organization: Beverly Louise Brown and Sydney J. Freedberg designed the exhibition for the National Gallery.

Sponsor: The exhibition was supported in part by the Montedison Group, Alitalia, the Italian-American Cultural Institution, and by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Other Venues:

• Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna, 09/10/1986–11/10/1986
• Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 03/19/1987–05/24/1987