V
V
S"" V 'V
V V' V VV / VVS
V V V V V
V V\V
V
V
V, I^_ , ^ - ,I I -
" ^ ^'-, VS. V V V V V \V V V V
V VV VV VS
\V V VV V VVt(
'V
N VV
V VVVV 'V VS VSV V VtVV5V V- It
V \V V
V VV V V 'V
VV'VS V V V V
VV
V
V V VJ
VS
VS
'V
VS
Vt
V5
VtVV5
VS54
SVVV •VVVSVV V VV VVVV\'V VV 'VSVS
V S
V 5V\V
VI
V VVV V
V V
V V VV V
S VV
V' V - VV
V V V ' VVS V V Vt V
V'
'VVV V4V5VVS
V V V' VVV V V VV V VSVVtt
V V V
VV VV
VSVS
'VV V VVV VSVVVt
VS'V
VS'i 'VS4! \
VSV-11,1111,
'V Vt I
VV
VV: V VV :VV VV V/
V
Vt
VS\ SVS
1-1
mot V '\tVt VVVV
V 'V VS
V 'V'VV VV VSVSVV'VVVVV V
VV11
'V VV'V
N
V
V VVV
VV VVV V
VVM
V V V' V
V V
V V VS
V
V
VV
V
V
V
VV VV
V 4 VSV V -V
'V
5;
V V VV -- <_'1l_"X_ ^ a,
11
V V VVVV
SV VVVV
V VVVVVV VVS5V VV V VVVVSV 54 V i'V
V'SVV
V
'V V V I V L V V S V
'V VS
V
' S V
V VVV tV V
V
VV
t-
VSVV
25VS
'V
44
I 'I
I. V
V VVVV 4V VVV Vt jV VSV VSV4VVSVS 45V
V 5VV VV V
V
VS V VtV
VS
V
VV Vt'- VVV V V
VV
11V
V / VVS
VV V,
V
V
V V 'V V
V
V'VV VVV
V
Vt'VVV
V
V
VVVVjJSVt5: S'
V'VVV
VV V
V -
V
VVV V V V V
: --
VV
Sk
VSVI 'V
SVVV V VSVS
V VVS V
VS V V VV5S VVVVVS
V'V
VS V
VV
VV V
VVV VSV
V
5VV 54V VS
V
:
V V VV V
V
VS VV VSV
V
V S
VV55VS'VS'V
V
VV
V
V VS
VS
V
I.
, , , ^ , ^^ I :, I f;^,^^I, , ,^ ^ , ,
4X l"",",
V
VS
5VVVVV
VVVV V SVVVI
VV VV
VV'V V
VV
VV V V'V
VV "Vt V VtVV
VVSV 'V -
V
- VVSV V V
VV
VS
V
MI 1:,.^^ 1, Z
, ^^_ '' ' L -
-".
V V'
V V PVVVV
VS
V V
VV'V V
'V I11 I
V 5V
VVVSV V V VS
VtVSVVSVSS V
V
MCI-
VV
V
V
V VS VV V V
'V 55
VV V
VL
V 'V V S V V V VV VVtVVSVVVSVSVV V VS
V - \'V V" V V V V V V
V VV VVV VVV,VV5V V'V V5
'V
'V
VVV
V V\V5V
VV' V
VV
V
V
V VJVSV V
'VV 'tV V V V
''I I ^ ^ I _^ -,^ , ^ ,
. ^
, , ^, I, ill!! ^ ^ ^ , _1 I _1 "' : , , - ^
, ,
V
V
VVVV
V
VVVVV VVVVV
- 'V
[
V
sVS VVV'V
V V
V Wool V
V"'VV
V V I '11111
EXCELLENT EXHIBITIONS
:AND THERE WAS LIGH-Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphal
The Masters of Renaissance, seen in a New Light
Edited by Francesco Buranelli Alessandro Vezzosi
<<L'ERMA> di BRETSCHNEIDER
UNDERTHE PATRONAGE OF
His Excellency Giorgio Napolitano President of the Italian Republic
His Eminence Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone Secretary of State of His Holyness
and There Was Light Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael The Masters of Renaissance, seen in a New Light
20 March - 15 August 2010 Eriksbergshallen Göteborg - Sweden
HONOUR COMMETrEE
PRESIDENT
Hon. Silvio Berlusconi Prime Minister of the Italian Republic
MEMBERS
Hon. Franco Frattini Minister of Foreign Affairs, Italy
Hon. Claudio Scajola Minister of Economic Development, Italy
Hon. Sandro Bondi Minister of Cultural Heritage, Italy
His Eminence Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
His Eminence Cardinal Angelo Comastri President of the Fabric of Saint Peter
His Eminence Cardinal Raffaele Farina Archivist and Librarian of the Holy Roman Church
His Excellency Mons. Fernando Filoni Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State
His Excellency Mons. Dominique Mamberti Secretary for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State
His Excellency Mons. Gianfranco Ravasi President of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church
His Excellency Mons. Carlo Maria ViganO General Secretary of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
His Excellency Emil Paul Tscherrig Apostolic Nuncio to Sweden
Her Excellency Anna della Croce Brigante Colon na Ambassador of the Italian Republic to Sweden
His Excellency Mons. Anders Arborelius O.C.D. Bishop of Stockholm
P. Ab. Michael John Zielinski, OSB Oliv. Vice-president of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church
Mr. Gianni Letta Undersecretary at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers
Mr. Mario Resca Director General, Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
PRESIDENTS
Francesco Buranelli Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church
Alessandro Vezzosi Director of the Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci
MEMBERS
Maurizio Calvesi Academician of the Lincei, Italy
Roberto Cecchi General Secretary of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities
Mons. José Manuel Del Rio Carrasco Undersecretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Patrimony of the Church
Maurizio Fallace General Director of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities
Antonia Ida Fontana Director of the Biblioteca Nazionale Cen trale, Florence
Carlo Pedretti Director of the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies - University of California at Los Angeles
Annalisa PerissaTorrini Director of the Department of Drawings of the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
Claudio Massimo Strinati General Directing, Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities
Pina Ragionieri Director of the Casa Buonarroti, Florence
Rossella Vodret Superintendent of Rome's Museums
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Mats Ronngard Managing Director Excellent Exhibitions
Staffan Peters Finance Director Excellent Exhibitions
Roberto Marcucci Coordination and International Relations
EXHIBITION CURATORS
Francesco Buranelli Alessandro Vezzosi
Agnese Sabato Assistant Curator
LENDERS CATALOGUE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Accademia Raffaello, Urbino Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Florence Carlo Palli Collection, Prato Casa Buonarroti, Florence Collection of the artist Aurelio Amendola Collection of the artist Jean Margat Collection of the artist Mario Ceroli Collection of the artist Yang Maoyuan Comune di Borgo Sansepolcro Credito Valtellinese Collection Fondazione Pistoletto - Cittadellarte, Biella Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice Museo Cassioli, Asciano Museo di San Marco, Florence Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci, Vinci Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence Peter and Kathleen Silverman Collection Provincia di Massa Carrara Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, Munich The Pedretti Foundation, Los Angeles
Editors Francesco Buranelli Alessandro Vezzosi
Essays by
Francesco Buranelli Marco Bussagli Sergio Guarino Carlo Pedretti Pina Ragionieri Claudio Massimo Strinati Alessandro Vezzosi
Entries by Excellent Exhibition (E.E.) Nathalie Guttmann Luciano Massari Carlo Pedretti Annalisa Perissa Torrini Paola Pirolo Pina Ragionieri Agnese Sabato (A.S.) Giovanni Serafini Isabella Truci Nicholas Turner Alessandro Vezzosi (A.V.) Flavia Zisa
Assistant Curator Agnese Sabato with the collaboration of Laura Correggioli
Translations by Scriptum, Rome: Sergio Knipe, Susan Ann White, Paul Metcalfe, Felicity Lutz, Catherine Bolton
The:And there was lightteam would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who made this exhibition possible. Especially we would like to thank Göteborg & CO for strong support and enthusiasm. The City of Goteborg and the Department for Culture affairs for all official contacts. Groom for the excellent layout and production. Roccia for all great projectmanagement, design and marketing. Overseas trading for all the complicated logistics. Our employes who did the impossible possible with great enthusiasm and power.
Ministry for Cultural Heritage, Rome Soprintendenze Speciali and Poli Museali of Florence, Milan and Venice Soprintendenze of Arezzo, Lucca, Siena, Urbino
Cristina Acidini, Cecilia Alessi, Osvaldo Angeli, Elisabetta Archi, Marina Babboni, Sandrina Bandera, Mariangela Betti, Caterina Bon Valsassina, Giulio Bora, Gabriele Borghini, Mons. Franco Buzzi, Giorgio Cerboni Baiardi, Aldo Cicinelli, Morena Costantini, Francesca de Luca, Piera Del Giudice, Marzia Faietti, Marcella Flenghi, Elena Fontana, Roberto Fontanari, Paolo Galluzzi, Maria Pia Ghignoni, Andrea Gulizia, Alba Macripô, Guglielmo M. Malchiodi, Marino Marini, Silvia Marra, Fabio Mazzieri, Cristina Mirandola, Antonio Natali, Marco Navoni, Beatrice Paolozzi Strozzi, Antonio Paolucci, Susanna Pelle, Roberto Pianigiani, Carla Pinzauti, Franco Polcri, Antonella Poleggi, Sandra Rossi, Magnolia Scudieri, Angelo Tartuferi, Maria Grazia Vaccari, Agnese Vasta no
Special thanks to: Giunti Editore, Florence, for lending the Leonardo editions Baron Hans Ernst Weidinger
and to: Franco Barattini, Armando Bartolini, Massimo Banelli, Riccardo Braccialini, Giammarco Cappuzzo, Francesco Cianchi, Rosselia Corcione, Pascal Cotte, Rosanna Di Pinto, Lucy de Fazio, Franco Fossi, Alessia Francescangeli, Fernando Gianesini, Laura Gianesini, Mara Guglielmi, Michele Kostov, Francesca Lai, Claire Margat, Catherine Simon Marion, Luciano Massari, Rossanna Pedretti, Jean Pennicaut, Filippo Petrignani, Maurizio Pinto, Stefano Pinzauti, Sonia Puccetti, Michael Roth, Francois Saint Bris, Marta Salvatici, Maurizio Seracini, Lapo Sergi, Maria Teresa Telara, Francesco Tempesta, Chiara Veronese, Babette Von Dohnanyi and all those who have collaborated on the exhibition and the catalogue.
© PHOTOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
Accademia Raffaello, Urbino
Antonio Quattrone, Florence
Archivio Fotografico Musei Vaticani, Vatican
Archivio Leonardismi, Archivio
Impronte Digitali - Museo Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci, Vinci
Archivio Scala, Florence
BNCF, Florence
Casa Buonarroti, Florence
De Agostini, Novara
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice
Carlo Gianni, Prato
Kalpa Group, Epalinges
Lumiere Technology, Paris
Maurizio Seracini - Editech, Florence
Museo Cassioli, Asciano
Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence
Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples
Palazzo delle Laudi, Sansepolcro
Peter and Kathleen, Silverman Collection
Photothek Staatliche Graphische Sammiung, München
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium Photographic Service, Brusselles
"Stvdivm Faesvlanvm"
Research Centre, Wien
Strumenti-memoria del territorio, Vinci
The Pedretti Foundation, Los Angeles
The photographic reproductions from the BNCF and the Superintendences have been used with the permission of the Ministry of Heritage and Cultural Activities. Any further reproduction or duplication with any technique is expressly prohibited.
Special Superintendency of Historical, Artistic, Ethnic and Anthropological Heritage, Venice Museums and the Municipalities of Venice Lagoon Area Courtesy of Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities / Special Superintendency of Historical, Artistic, Ethnic and Anthropological Heritage of Naples / BNCF: Fig. 7: p. 159, fig. 8:
p. 160, fig. 10: p. 163, fig. 11: p. 165 / Special Superintendency of Historical, Artistic, Ethnic and Anthropological Heritage and of Florence Museums Photographic Department
© Scala Archives:
© 2010. Photo Scala, Florence: fig. 1, p. 1; fig. 8, p. 5; fig. 19,p. 14; fig. 6, p.83; fig. 7, p. 84; fig. 8, p. 85; fig. 11, p. 7; fig. 4, p. 25; fig. 1,p.22. © 2010. Photo Scala, Florence - courtesy of Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities: fig. 14, p. 171; fig. 12, p.8; figs. 2-3, p. 2; fig. 6, p. 27; fig. 4, p. 3; fig. 4, p. 148; fig. 16-17, p.1 1;fig. 15, p.10; fig. 14, p. 9; figs. 2-3, p. 24; fig. 6, p. 4; fig. 9, p. 5; fig. 18, p. 180; fig. 20, p. 185; fig. 5, p.3. Private Coil. © 2010. Photo Scala, Florence: figs. 54-55, p. 245. © 2010. Photo Art Media /Heritage Images/Scala, Florence: fig. 10, p. 6. © 2010. National Gallery, London/Scala, Florence: fig. 5, p. 149. © 2010. Photo Scala, Florence/V&A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum, London: fig. 5, p. 82. © 2010. White Images/Scala, Florence: fig. 3, p. 146.
© Carlo Pedretti, Agnese Sabato, Alessandro Vezzosi for their respective essays.
Copyright holders may contact the publisher regarding any unidentified photographic sources
Sponsored by
SI
post! j
515'
- SI--, a 5S';- 55 S. 51f- S
i oil.
75 5- 1 9 CIA
VAST
'I
- 7
f-S
S /5
I
.5
Sf ;S7H 5, Sf '- .1 -:
H 15
I
Pot
ANN
- .5 . .. 5.. .
log
AZT A
S
'S.
49
I I 17
hill
1 1 iS1
1 - S :l S1 fI
S
- I - SSI
--.:- S.-
;S
SI-
S S S 55
All 51A EN
7
lotASS 55
55
9-
S
S
WQ 55
H-5
-5
1995
off:--..--
<<L'ERMAx' di BRETSCHN EIDER
Roberto Marcucci Elena Montani
Massimo Banelli Valentina Barroccu Francesco Cagliuso
Rita Censi Rossella Corcione
Alessia Erancescangeli Michele Kostov
Sergio Lozzi Daniele Maras Caterina Pazzi
Erik Pender Maurizio Pinto
Roberto Pizzonia Dario Scianetti
© Copyright 2010 <<L'ERMA di BRETSCHNEIDER
Via Cassiodoro, 19- 00193 Rome (Italy) website: www.Ierma.it - e-mail: [email protected]
All right reserved. The reproduction of the test or illustrations without written
permission from the editor is strictly forbidden.
AND THERE WAS LIGHT: Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: the masters of Renaissance seen in a new light / a cura di Francesco Buranelli, Alessandro Vezzosi. - Roma: L'ERMAx' di BRETSCHN EIDER, 2010.- 276 p.: ill.; 28 cm. ISBN 978-88-8265-565-5
CDD21. 709.45
1.Leonardo: da Vinci - Esposizioni - 2010 2.Buonarroti, Michelangelo - Esposizioni -2010 3.Raffaello Sanzio - Esposizioni - 2010 4.Arte italiana - Sec. 15.-16. - Esposizioni -2010 5.Rinascimento - Italia - Esposizioni - 2010
I. Buranelli, Francesco II. Vezzosi, Alessandro
>> 1
> 21
>> 31
> 67
>> 77
> 89
>> 91 '> 125
> 129 > 138
>> 143
>> 151
>> 229
> 241
>> 251
Table of contents
PREFACE
• THEY TAUGHT THE WORLD" by Francesco Buran el/i ........................................................................
THE RENAISSANCE, A UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE by C/audio Strinati ..................................................
RIVALS IN THE FLORENCE OF THE MEDICI AND OF THE REPUBLIC by Alessandro Vezzosi
IN MILAN UNDER THE SFORZA FAMILY AND THE FRENCH by Carlo Pedretti.............................
THE ROME OF THE POPES (1503-1541) by Sergio Guarino .........................................................
THE LIVES OF THE THREE LEADING FIGURES ...................................................................................................
LEONARDO by Agnese Sabato and Alessandro Vezzosi.................................................................
LEONARDOAND SCANDINAVIA .....................................................................................................................................
MICHELANGELO by Pina Ragionieri ...................................................................................................................
CASABUONARROTI ..............................................................................................................................................................
RAPHAEL by Marco Bussagli ...................................................................................................................................
ANCIENTWORKS ON DISPLAY.....................................................................................................................................
CONTEMPORARY RENAISSANCE AND AVANT-GARDES by Alessandro Vezzosi .....................
CONTEMPORARY WORKS ON DISPLAY ................................................................................................................
MODELSAND MULTIMEDIA ........................................................................................................................................
': •/, - , &,
SI
$
c.,'
,
I
NY An
wN kL
AN Ilk
gg
Sl
. - - -
: : !
1 - I
J -
\3
, -
,, * ¼t ' .
' ' :
NMIIQ
,
,
<
xv lkv
Al
OF
MI
LU All
IC 4
'
k\ >,
c '
; f
IJ
I
41
I I
I
I;
I
I
:I
I4II
II
11 1
PREFACE
At the same moment that 'And There Was Light' opens its doors something else draws to a close. The journey that included the planning, preparation and design of the exhibition is now concluded. A wholly different journey now commences.
When, at the time of writing, we wait to turn the last pages of the calendar so that the exhibition can open, it feels natural to take this opportunity to thank everyone who, in one way or another, has contributed to the implementation of the project. There are many of you who made this journey together with us and it is very much due to your encouragement and knowledge, commitment and enthusiasm that we have finally reached our destination.
We particularly appreciate the fact that you have not only contributed your professional knowledge. You have also offered something of yourselves and thereby have delivered warmth, optimism and a great spirit to the project. There are many bands of friendship that have been tied in the course of this journey.
It is also true that we have had to change course at times, raise our standards and define that distant horizon again. Large cultural projects are never carried out without surmounting obstacles en route. On more than one occasion, however, we have experienced how incredibly strengthening and enriching it is to overcome these obstacles and thereby move forward.
All those who have participated cannot unfortunately be mentioned in the little space here. However, we wish to offer special thanks to the following whose input has been essential for bringing this exhibition to life.
Firstly, we must mention our own families who have lived with our dreams and plans over several years and who have supported us fervently throughout the entire project.
The City of Goteborg that embraced the exhibition from the outset and has really helped us to bring it into being.
The exhibition's artistic director Alessandro Vezzosi, scientific director Francesco Buranelli and publisher Roberto Marcucci who have contributed their priceless knowledge, an impressive network of contacts and many good ideas.
All the museums, institutions and art collectors who have generously loaned paintings, sketches, sculptures and manuscripts. And, last but not least, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael who got everything started a long time ago now!
:
: •, : • :..
T ,: .. •' :
-I , *
\ \ '
. ,
!: :
TomAll
AIS
MINAN Wk
.
;
-P 311
, I
-AN ZKOR, (
ago Pay : -. .
&4
L '
;
t;v
:
OEM
WIT SAW
933 3 3 3 3 44 4 34 3 3
I I, 4 1 3
'9 3 3 4 3 3 4 '3
3,,
,,1 4 I 3439 1 4
('9 WN
44 '9 'S
3 ',I'9 SS''H'
55
'1
,,s '" 3 34
54934
'9
'4 7 4
- 15534,
his r 34/ 4 31
:
39 34
1
ion
144
47
SE
W" mom
339
94 5, 55555545
95
, '9VS S43
35'
3 4
4
1
1 343 39
'9
4 5535
55''H
549 4' '9 '9 - 41 5 1S
'S_SI55
S "II- I'S I
49, '9 '9
3' I'4
-- 51 I
'
INDIA
-S 7 5544
I
55
535 S,7
535
-' I
S 7
355 55
, I
5,
-i ,-
555
5\S 5S
, . V
VV
: V
V • V V V \V V , ,V
.
V ' V
V \ V V
VV\ V f : V
Nov ,
Omm V
4 V\
V \V V V V WV V ' V\V \
V
V VVVV
VV• V V
VV\V VV\ V&V V
WV ' \ ,A T MAO
\ \ k
V
- - \ ' ,, \ . \ D
:VV:V'VV V
VVV
:'
VV V cw-
V ' V VV V V
VVV V
kV - VV
V\V \ VV
VVV VV
V
\ V.V V V VV V V
V V V VV
Vj
1'i ¶
\\\
V \ Fv
RRKWw-
\kV V
V' V
'V
VV
VV' .VVV 4
V \ - -
\ \ k
NOR I ,- V
OM
Vp py
V V V
-:- - VV
VV V
V t VV
V
V V
V _V, V
V V .
V r V
V
c
V
V V V VVVVV '
: , - -
V
V V
Mm
- - - '-- - V- - - -
V --
V
V V
VV - - -
V VV
VV VV V
- - - --
z-
MOSSM Eno l ot w"""Awn Mom,
V V
V V
lot
V
VVV VV_ V
V '
\ - V -- V V
V - V --V
V _V
IC
V
V
- V
-
MEO
-- - - V - - ---'-V - --
-
- -V \-
V - -
VV - V f4 -
VRL
V - - -; :--
--/ - V VVI
VV-V '
--
-V V
V VV _4 - - V
-V
1
-V
V-VV // -V
V V--
•V
Mam
.-V-;:-/
- -- : '--- --,_
- --: -
If /
-VV4y
$
- -V- --
•----V-: -- V-V - - -
gm xe
'All E
H WON
H
Francesco Buranelli
—...they taU lithe wor 1 There was a time in European history when the devastation caused by wars of attrition, never-ending famines, atrocious plagues and violent so-cial conflicts was eclipsed by artistic conquests of such perfection and impact that they virtually have no equal in modern history.
1. View of the city of Pienza with Palazzo Piccoomini and the square in front.
Europe in general, and Italy in particular, expe-rienced an age that lasted more than 150 years and saw a contemporaneous and vigorous flourishing of painters, sculptors, architects, poets, scientists and musicians in ways, and numbers, that were so astonishing, it was con-sidered, even then, the rebirth of Man's creative energy, in other words, the Renaissance.
Today, scholars prefer to speak of Renais-sances, since the manifestations of this power-ful impulse that drove intellectuals and artists to seek the very roots of humanity were many and varied.
Later, when this extraordinary cultural move-ment reached its height, there was a period dur-ing which an exceptional burgeoning of genius
F -
found its natural humus in Italy, even though the country was experiencing, at the political level, the troubled transition from the free Communes
nomic level, the recovery that took place in Eu-rope between the end of the 14th and the begin-fling of the 15th century was more rapid and pro-nounced in Italy than in the other countries.
If, in fact, we pause to consider Italy in the 15th century, we find a highly civilized country
with a vibrant culture, and a population of about ten million divided between small, quarrelsome states, each with its own ruler and court. In the
fortresses and churches, there now abounded in every city and state patrician palaces, princely residences and cathedrals commissioned by ar-tistic patrons without equal in history. No new cities were built, except in very rare cases, and existing ones were radically altered (fig. 1) by
2. LEON BATTISTA ALBERT
(attr.), The Ideal City, Urbino, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche.
3. View of Florence (intorno al 1470), the so-called "Carta della Catena" held by the Museo"Firenze com'era' Florence.
of medieval origin to the Seignories. At the eco- "Beautiful Country"formerly dotted with castles,
...AND THERE WAS LIGHT Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael
4. GIORGIO VASARI, Portrait of Lorenzo de'Medici, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi.
he layout and the func-Nevertheless, the Ital-
sance city with its sober n a human scale (fig. 2), nvented"and a harmony n the surrounding land-ipe sought. Meanwhile, ge monuments in mar-
and bronze were ex-ited, editions of ancient published, major fresco cted, the sciences were nology progressed. thought created consid-irough its rediscovery of • ising the mostsignificant al and scientific achieve-t, it injected new life into
S.
is the ideal centre of this
3): a city-state governed a family of astute mer-
)atrons of the arts who nut as apothecaries and in becoming the leading iiest bankers in Europe.
:isely at the time when noese explorer Christo-Columbus was discov-the New World, Flor-- the "City of Flowers" proudly displayed a red in its coat of arms - had ned the appellation "the new Athens"; its gold
5. MICHELANGELO, David, Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia.
currency, the form, was legal tender through-out Europe. It was under the rule of the brilliant Lorenzo de' Medici (1444-1492) (fig. 4) - the man who "tipped the scales" in the stormy Ital-ian politics of the period - that the city experi-enced its greatest economic and artistic pros-perity. The most important and most promising painters, sculptors and architects gravitated to Florence from every part of Italy. They worked in the city for a brief, magical period, divided by rivalries but united by a common denominator: the genius of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) and the younger Raphael (1483-1520), three artists who knew they were talented, who proudly, and ar-rogantly, considered themselves the leading ex-ponents of the figurative art of the period, but who humbly recognized that beyond every goal lay another still to be reached.
When Raphael left his magnificent Urbino and arrived in Florence in autumn 1504 with the col-ours and the refined painting styles of his teach-er Perugino (1450-1523), his father Giovanni Santi (1433-1494), his family's friend Melozzo da ForIl (1438-1494), Pintoricchio (1445-1513) and Piero della Francesca (1416/17-1492) still very
.they taught the world"
6. ANDREA DEL VERROCCHIO
AND LEONARDO DA VINCI,
Baptism of Christ, Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi,
much in his mind, the city offered a remarkable panorama of beauty and excellence. He rarely met Michelangelo and nothing is known about Raphael's relationship with Leonardo, by whom he was nevertheless profoundly influenced with regard to purity of drawing and chromatism. Just two months previously Michelangelo's Dav-id (fig. 5), symbol of a renewed commitment to freedom, had been placed outside Palazzo della Signoria, while Leonardo and Michelangelo were preparing for their historic "duel" in the Sala dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio, where they were to paint respectively frescoes of the battles of Anghiari and Cascina.
The Humanistic and Renaissance culture spread from Florence to the whole of Italy and the principal European courts, but it was in the Tuscan city - equidistant from the papal court in Rome and the Milanese court of Ludovico il Moro - that the activities of the three great Renaissance masters were interwoven. Later, they would be-come universally known and admired by their Christian names, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael, without their surnme or any appella-
tion indicating their city of origin being added. The main aim of the exhibition is to trace the
rivalries and affinities between the three major
1
- H" S
S
I' - _ -
SSS
HS -H'
S
,y
:---
-
7. LEONARDO, Pro getti di ingegneria (Codex Atlanticus, Milan, Ambrosiana).
...AND THERE WAS LIGHT Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael