Issue 65 - The Pilgrim - October 2017 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

Feature
The Pilgrim October 2017
Up close with the great Renaissance artists
Michelangelo’s evolution as an
artist, following but also rejecting
Leonardo’s example, as well as for
the young Raphael’s development of
a more expressive, dynamic style in
synthesis with what he was
simultaneously learning from
Leonardo.”
the Baptist adoring the Christ Child
accompanied by an Angel (The
Virgin of the Rocks) and The Virgin
and Child with Saint Anne and The
Infant Saint John the Baptist (The
Burlington House Cartoon - pictured
below).
There are three works by Raphael
By Greg Watts
Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci,
and Raphael, three of the biggest
names in Renaissance art, are the
focus of a new exhibition at the
National Gallery, which explores the
relationship between them.
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo
and Raphael were also people with
The Madonna and Child with Saint
John the Baptist and Saint
Nicholas of Bari
ideas and visions that reached far
beyond the world of art. They were
also bitter rivals, competing for
both commissions and fame.
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael
around 1500 brings together eight
works by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–
1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti
(1475–1564), and Raffaello Santi, or
Raphael (1483–1520), three artists
who were keenly aware of each
other’s work and at times intensely
rivalrous.
Together they are regarded as
fathers of a new, dynamic and
psychologically incisive approach to
art – the High Renaissance.
National Gallery director, Dr
Gabriele Finaldi, said: “This display
of great masterpieces by Leonardo,
Michelangelo, and Raphael – the
triumvirate of the High Renaissance
– could only happen at the National
Gallery. The combination of our own
astoundingly rich holdings and the
exceptional loan from the Royal
Academy of Michelangelo’s marble
tondo makes this a completely
unique event.”
The centre piece of this free
display is The Virgin and Child with
the Infant St John, also known as
the Taddei Tondo (pictured above).
The work, the only marble sculpture
by Michelangelo in the UK, was an
exceptional loan from the Royal
Academy to the critically acclaimed
Credit Suisse Exhibition:
Michelangelo & Sebastiano earlier
this year.
The sculpture currently remains
on loan to the National Gallery,
providing a rare opportunity to
explore the connections between
these three Renaissance masters.
In the exhibition the Taddei Tondo
is presented alongside seven works
from the National Gallery Collection
to tell the story of how these three
artists inspired each other in their
revolutionary approaches to art
around the turn of the 16th century:
how they learnt from each other,
stole from each other, and worked
in opposition to each other –
respectful friends and acrimonious
rivals.
Matthias Wivel, the National
Gallery’s Curator of 16th-century
Italian Paintings says: “For a
museum that doesn’t normally have
sculpture at its disposal, it is
fantastic to have on hand one of the
greatest in Britain, not least
because it complements the
National Gallery’s rich holdings by
these three giants of Western
European art so well.
“Sculpture is so crucial to the
development of visual art at this
time and the Taddei Tondo provides
a key to understanding
The other Michelangelo works
featured are The Virgin and Child
with Saint John and Angels (The
Manchester Madonna) and The
Entombment.
Michelangelo faced his greatest
challenge as a painter in 1508 when
Pope Julius II commissioned him to
decorate the entire ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel with frescoes. It took
Michelangelo four years to complete
the work and the paintings are
regarded as some of the most
powerful, outstanding works in the
history of art.
Although there are very few
authentic paintings by Leonardo, he
was responsible for some of the
world’s most brilliant works,
including The Mona Lisa and the
fresco The Last Supper.
Leonardo is represented by The
Virgin with the Infant Saint John
in the display – The Madonna and
Child with Saint John the Baptist
and Saint Nicholas of Bari (The
Ansidei Madonna), Saint Catherine
of Alexandria and The Madonna of
the Pinks (La Madonna dei
Garofani).
Raphael, who also painted
frescoes in the Vatican, was only 37
when he died. Yet despite his short
life he has exerted a major
influence on art. The Italian painter
and art historian Vasari wrote of
Raphael: “While we may term other
works paintings, those of Raphael
are living things; the flesh
palpitates, the breath comes and
goes, every organ lives, life pulsates
everywhere.”
n The exhibition is in Room 20 and
runs until January 2018.
Admission is free.
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