The Easel

12th November 2024

How a single year in Florence changed art forever

Martin Gayford | The Spectator | 2nd November 2024

Renaissance art seems so distant that we can lose the drama surrounding its creation. Florence in 1504 is a case in point. Michelangelo and da Vinci “distained” each other. Then, a young Raphael arrived, learned from both and started winning commissions they probably wanted. Rivalries sharpened further. Da Vinci and Michelangelo, seeing “flaws” in each other’s work, tried to out-do the other while the observant Raphael produced his “harmonious synthesis”. How very contemporary. Background is here.

The Great Mughals review – dazzling decorous delights waft you to paradise

Jonathan Jones | The Guardian | 6th November 2024

The Mughals were a contradiction. They were violent, engaging in palace coups at home and military conquest abroad. Yet their courts were religiously tolerant and intellectually open, incorporating Central Asian, Persian and European influences. Immensely wealthy at their peak (about 1560 – 1660) their ravishing palaces were full of art, books and precious objects. Their floral patterning was widely influential. Their gardens were to die for. Which, eventually, they did. Images and background are here.

5th November 2024

Drawing the Italian Renaissance review: This will delight Da Vinci and Michelangelo fans

Florence Hallett | iNews | 2nd November 2024

Drawing flourished in the Renaissance and not just because paper had become affordable. Drawing was also an ideal medium in which to explore new ideas, notably a naturalistic approach to portraiture. While it might have started as a subsidiary activity, the “immediacy and virtuosity” of drawing established it as a unique artform. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and others all developed and shared their ideas on paper. Collectively, drawing helped define the aesthetic of the Renaissance. A “sensational” show.

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