Florence, 1504 – the setting of what may have been the ultimate clash of the titans of western art. In that year, the ageing Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti – recently returned from triumph in Rome – and the new genius on the block, Raffaello Sanzio from Urbino across the Apennines, crossed paths in the Italian city.
Their working together in the same city, a hotbed of intrigue and turmoil, copying, studying each other, and seeking new audiences and patrons, is the subject of the Royal Academy’s new exhibition Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence 1504.
Though small in scale, it is a gem of a show, a testament to staggering genius, three artists at a very different stage in their developments. Astonishingly, it is made up of three rooms only, but almost each item, great and small, sculpture, drawing, sketches paintings finished and unfinished – especially the unfinished – is a volume in itself.
The first big bit of public art business in Florence that year took place on January 25, when a committee of the most prominent artists, Leonardo among them, met to discuss where to put Michelangelo’s magnificent David on public display. The sculpture was not quite finished – and Michelangelo had been hauled back from Rome to get the job done.
The Florentine government of the Signoria had also commissioned him to paint a scene of the battle of Cascina, 1362, in its headquarters, the Palazzo Vecchio. Leonardo had been commissioned to depict the later battle of Anghiari, 1440 – and it is the only time the two Florentine greats ever worked together. The contract for the paintings was witnessed by one Nicolo Machiavelli, the council secretary.
-c--1508.jpeg?trim=3037%2C0%2C3038%2C0)
The first room in the show is dominated by the marble relief of the Madonna and Child, executed by Michelangelo as he was finishing the David.
The ‘Taddei Tondo’ is the only sculpture by Michelangelo in the UK, and stays in the RA. Here it is flanked by preliminary drawings and sketches, and the piece it inspired from Raphael, the Virgin and Child, the Bridgewater Madonna – so named from the collection in which it is held. It shows an equally informal and unusual arrangements of the main figures, the mother and child. Another Madonna and Child, from Budapest, also from 1508 makes up the two principal pieces by Raphael.
Much of the rest is an intriguing tangle of notebooks and sketches, some of men, horses and beasts, battles and ceremonies – most executed in a flash. We have one of Leonardo’s exquisite notebooks – mirror writing, crazy beasts and machines and all. All three knew of each other, worked off each other, and must have driven their patrons nuts by quitting one project for something round the corner.
Most astonishing is the Leonardo cartoon of the Madonna and St Anne, the single monumental piece in the second room: it is a dark, awesome mystery that baffled his peers, and baffles critics to this day.
This show is almost understated with its subdued décor and lighting, yet mind blowing in suggestion and imagination. It would be ideal for students to unravel the influences and inspirations these great artists drew from their world and each other. Visitors should be warned to tread quietly: shhh! – stupendous genius at work!
Royal Academy, to February 16; royalacademy.org.uk
