Philippe de Montebello, retiring director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, examines Madonna and Child, by Duccio di Buoninsegna. The work is considered the Met's most costly acquisition, estimated at $50 million US. (Metropolitan Museum of Art/Associated Press)

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art opens a wide-ranging and eclectic exhibition Friday to honour longtime director Philippe de Montebello, who retires at the end of the year.

For the exhibit The Philippe de Montebello Years, staff from the museum's 17 curatorial departments picked about 300 artworks and artifacts for display — rare objects that joined the Met's vast collection under the French-born de Montebello's tenure.

Many of the pieces are key works that helped transform and enhance the Met's collection, including a fifth-century Indian Buddha, Johannes Vermeer's Portrait of a Young Woman, Jasper Johns's mixed-media canvas White Flag and Duccio di Buoninsegna's Madonna and Child — reportedly the Met's most expensive single acquisition ever at an estimated $50 million US.

Overall, during de Montebello's more than 30-year career as the museum's director, the Met added about 84,000 pieces to its collection, which is renowned for its Egyptian antiquities, Asian art and Old Masters works.

During this time, the museum also saw its endowment and visitor numbers rise.

De Montebello also encouraged developing a regular appetite for the Met's permanent collection versus focusing simply on showcase exhibitions. One of his initiatives during the late-1980s was to abolish separate admission fees for high-profile temporary shows.

Tribute 'a wonderful surprise'

Though staff were unable to keep the tribute exhibit a secret for long, the 72-year-old de Montebello called it "a wonderful surprise" and has remained largely hands-off as it came together.

"When one's professional staff pays tribute to you, that gives you a sense that you've done something right," he said.

His one major request, however, was that the exhibit not be organized in the usual historical manner: with objects united by date of creation or place of origin.

So, the curators arranged the display to reflect chronologically de Montebello's reign as director. Because of this, the selected paintings, sculptures, furniture, photos, weapons and textiles are sometimes featured in unusual match-ups.

The exhibit continues through Feb. 1, 2009.

Started as Met curator

De Montebello left France after the Second World War and studied at Harvard. After graduation, he earned a master's degree in art history from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts.

He started at the Met as an assistant curator in the European paintings department in 1963. Though he had a four-year stint at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, he was been at the Met since, rising to the post of director in 1977 and adding the title of CEO in 1998.

He officially steps down Dec. 31 after one of the longest tenures as head of an American museum.

Beginning in 2009, de Montebello returns to his alma mater of New York University to join its faculty of fine art. He will also work as an artistic and cultural adviser.

His successor is Thomas Campbell, the Met curator who spearheaded the Tapestry of the Renaissance and Tapestries of the Baroque exhibits.

With files from the Associated Press