Denise Allen joined The Frick Collection in 2003 and currently holds the position of Curator of Renaissance Paintings and Sculpture. She received her M.A. in art history, with a specialization in Italian Renaissance art, from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, in 1983. In 1995, Allen was appointed Assistant Curator in the Department of Paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. While at the Getty, she developed expertise in eighteenth-century pastels and curated exhibitions such as Ercole de'Roberti: The Renaissance in Ferrara (1999) and Greuze the Painter (2002). She has also organized several exhibitions at the Frick, including Willem van Tetrode (c. 1525–1580): Bronze Sculptures of the Renaissance (2003), A Beautiful and Gracious Manner: The Art of Parmigianino (2004), Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Quentin Collection (2004), Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (2005), and George Stubbs: A Celebration (2006). She curated and was one of the principal catalogue authors for the exhibition Andrea Riccio: Renaissance Master of Bronze (2008). Most recently, she co-curated and contributed to the exhibition catalogue for Antico: The Golden Age of Renaissance Bronzes (2011–12).
Photograph by Michael Bodycomb