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As a new exhibition celebrates the works that defined the Italian Renaissance, we retrace the steps of the artists behind them
I love an excuse to revisit an old favourite, even better when it offers a way of enjoying it in a new light. The Royal Academy’s exhibition on Florence does exactly that, exploring the city through the seminal works of art that were made, commissioned or displayed at the high point of the Italian Renaissance – the year 1504. It was a moment when three of the world’s most famous artists – Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael – were in the city and ended up pitted against each other in what amounted to perhaps the greatest artistic rivalry of all time.
Things started coming to a head on January 25 1504, when a special meeting of 28 of Florence’s leading artists and architects – including the then 51-year-old elder statesman, Leonardo da Vinci – was convened to solve a problem. What was to be done with the monumental statue depicting David the Goliath killer, which the young sculptor Michelangelo had just completed in a shed, set up in the works yard of the cathedral.
The original intention had been to place it high on a buttress of the Duomo. But it seems that Michelangelo’s achievement had met with such widespread admiration that the committee decided to install it in a more prominent position outside the entrance to the town hall – the great castellated Palazzo della Signoria, which still dominates the city centre today. Since the Medici had been forced from power only eight years before (only temporarily as it turned out), it would serve as a symbol of the city’s resilience against tyranny.
The 17ft-high statue was suspended by ropes on a special frame and it took 40 men four days to manoeuvre it from the Piazza del Duomo to its position by the palazzo. Here it remained until it was moved to the Accademia museum in the 19th century. But the copy which replaced it stands today as a reminder of this miraculous year at the high point of the Florentine Renaissance.
If this was a moment of triumph for Michelangelo, the city had more plans for him. It was decided to commemorate Florentine independence by decorating the interior of the Palazzo della Signoria with two frescos on the walls of the great meeting room – the Salone dei Cinquecento (hall of the 500). Michelangelo was to depict the Battle of Cascina – a critical Florentine victory over Pisa in 1364. And he was to be pitted head to head with Leonardo, who was commissioned to paint the victory over the Milanese at Anghiari in 1440.
Neither artist finished his commission. Leonardo’s attempt was hampered by his failed experiments with new paints. The deteriorating fresco was either covered up, or destroyed completely, when the room was enlarged in around 1560. Michelangelo’s contribution only got as far as some sketches on the drawing board. But studies or early copies survive for both.
Meanwhile, watching this rivalry pan out was Raphael. Just 21 years old but learning fast – especially from Michelangelo. He was winning portrait commissions from some of the richest and most influential bankers and merchants of Florence, some of which are still in the city.
Here is our guide to retracing the steps of those three great artists and the works they made more than 500 years ago.
Though the exterior decoration of the Duomo was nowhere near finished in 1504, the structure of the dome had been completed and the great gilded ball which caps it had been hoist into position some 30 years earlier. As a young apprentice, Leonardo was involved in the casting process and his notes show that he was fascinated by the mechanics of raising it.
The Opera del Duomo museum, to the east of the cathedral, is probably on the site where the David statue was made, and it now houses many key works that played a central part in the Florentine renaissance. These include the original decorated bronze Baptistery doors by Pisano and those by Ghiberti which Michelangelo called “the gates of paradise”. Here is also one of his last sculptures, a Pieta made in the 1550s.
Today the piazza is full of impressive public sculptures, including a monumental fountain of Neptune and an equestrian of Cosimo I de’ Medici. But these were all erected later in the 16th century. When David was installed on its plinth outside the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio, it would have stood out far more prominently. Apart from the famous Loggia dei Lanzi, now full of more statuary, but originally built for public meetings and the main part of the palazzo itself, most of the buildings around the square post-date 1504. But the shape and size of the square have not changed since the days of Michelangelo.
The palace – and the Hall of the 500 – have been significantly extended since 1504, but the labyrinthine museum gives lots of insights into the period, and an exhibition, Michelangelo and Power, has just opened in the museum, with more than 50 works on display. These include an anonymous early copy of part of Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari, and one of Michelangelo’s early figure studies for his rival battle scene.
Despite the crowds who come here to see the original David, the sheer size of the sculpture still means that you get an excellent view. There are also six more works by Michelangelo in the museum, including four unfinished Prisoners (or Slaves) from 1519 and 1534, and a figure of St Matthew, which Michelangelo left unfinished when he was called to Rome by the Pope, Julius II, in 1505.
The first patrons to pit Raphael and Michelangelo directly against each other were the wealthy Florentine fabric merchant Agnolo Doni and his new young wife, Maddalena Strozzi. Soon after he came to Rome, they commissioned Raphael to paint their portraits against an idyllic Tuscan landscape.
At the same time, they commissioned Michelangelo to make what is now known as the Doni Tondo, a circular painting depicting the Holy Family in a complex, intertwining pose. The forms of the figures and the bold colour contrasts anticipate the Sistine ceiling, which he was to begin in 1508. All three paintings are now in the Uffizi, along with Raphael’s self-portrait, which he made in 1506 depicting himself in his painter’s hat and brown smock.
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504 is at the Royal Academy from November 9 to February 16 2025 (admission £19-21). A new exhibition, Drawing the Italian Renaissance, at the Queen’s Gallery (admission £19) includes works by the same artists. It runs until March 9 2025. Michelangelo and Power is at the Palazzo Vecchio until January 26 2025, with admission included with the museum entrance charge.
Nick Trend was a guest of the Portrait Firenze hotel, which has double rooms from €325 (£272) per person per night, and Il Tornabuoni, where doubles are from €200 (£168) per person per night.
Nick’s book, Italy: In the Footsteps of the Great Artists, will be published by Thames & Hudson in 2025.
Read The Telegraph’s guide to Florence here