Pictures at an Exhibition

A birthday jaunt recently took me to ‘Michaelangelo, Leonardo & Raphael’ at the Royal Academy of Art. 

I enjoy art, though I’m no expert. It was fascinating to compare/contrast the drawings of these three Italian High Renaissance big hitters, done in preparation for larger paintings. Leonardo’s sketches often seem tortured. He tended to portray emotion through facial expressions. I particularly enjoyed this detail in a larger page of drawings, mainly of horses.

Detail of heads of horse, lion, man, Leonardo de Vinci

These were preparations for a battle scene. The heads of a horse, lion and man all convey the bestial ferocity of ‘battle fever.’ The human head has clearly been developed from the lion. This detail gave me a thrill – a sense of an intimate glimpse into Leonardo’s process.

Michaelangelo

That said, the exhibition confirmed to me my own leaning towards Michaelangelo. I especially enjoyed this page of drawings in preparation for a circular painting of the holy family. If you look closely, you can pick out several fainter drawings of the infant Jesus in different poses in the upper left side, as well as the one in the foreground. Again, a glimpse into the development of a future work.

The exhibition was slightly sparse in its content, but the items were well displayed in 2 spacious galleries connected by a small central one. Also, the level of detail in the accompanying notices was, for me, just right. Overall, a great experience. We went on the final day of this exhibition. Many of the items were on loan from the Crown, but evidently the royal family’s collection is not much depleted since another exhibition, ‘Drawing the Renaissance,’ continues at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, until March 9th.