CLEVELAND.- Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA)’s first traveling exhibition to showcase a significant number of the Museum’s Early Christian, Byzantine, and Western Medieval art in Europe, travels from Munich, Germany and opens at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles on October 30, 2007 and runs through January 20, 2008.

“The Cleveland Museum of Art is known around the world for its rich and diverse collection of medieval art,” said CMA Director Timothy Rub. “Having begun our $258 million renovation and expansion project in the fall of 2005, we are taking advantage of this rare opportunity to share masterpieces from our permanent collection with audiences around the world.”

Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art comprises 114 works of art executed in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, decorative arts, textiles, prints, and illuminated manuscripts. The exhibition offers a rich survey of the arts and culture of Medieval Europe from the Late Antique period through the Age of Humanism.

Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art offers a unique and unprecedented opportunity to view CMA’s celebrated collection (including pieces of the Guelph Treasure) of Early Christian, Byzantine, and Western Medieval art. Visitors can explore aspects of artistic patronage, gifts and gift-giving, public and private devotion, courtly life, and medieval warfare. Some of these objects are traveling for the first time since they were acquired by the CMA in the 1920s through the 1940s.

Highlights include: Celtic Head (Northern England, c. 100-300); The Jonah Marbles (Asia Minor, c. 280-290); The Cumberland Medallion (Germany late 700s); Plaque from a Book Cover: Christ’s Mission to the Apostles (Ottonian, Milan, c. 970-980); Portable Altar of Countess Gertrude (Germany, Lower Saxony, c. 1045); The “Spitzer Cross” (French, Limoges, c. 1190); Table Fountain (French, Paris, c. 1320-40); Three Mourners from the Tomb of Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy (Claus de Werve, Netherlandish, 1364-1404); Adoration of the Magi (Giovanni di Paolo, c. 1440-45); St. Jerome and the Lion (Tilman Riemenschneider, c. 1495); and Half-armor for the Foot Tournament (Italian, Milan c. 1590).

Medieval Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art at The Getty is the second venue for this rare exhibition of medieval masterpieces following its debut at the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich, Germany (May 11 – September 16, 2007). Organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art and curated by Holger Klein, the Robert P. Bergman Curator of Medieval Art, the exhibition is accompanied by a full catalogue with color reproductions of each work in the exhibition. The Getty’s presentation is curated by Antonia Bostr�m, curator, and Jeffrey Weaver, assistant curator of sculpture and decorative arts.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of America’s leading comprehensive museums. Its permanent collection is world renowned for its quality and breadth, spanning 6,000 years. The Museum is a significant international forum for exhibitions, scholarship and art acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art receives operating support from the Ohio Arts Council through state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. For more information on the museum, its holdings, programs, services and events, call 1-888-CMA-0033 or visit www.ClevelandArt.org.