Two Male Nudes Seen from Behind, c1505
Raphael
Pen and brown ink and black chalk on paper
This scene of two male nudes on a riverbank closely relates to the ‘Battle of Cascina’.
Not a copy in the conventional sense, the sketch can be seen as an improvisation on the theme of Michelangelo’s ‘Bathers’. Raphael changed the point of view, showing the scene from the perspective of the bathers, as if stepping inside the composition.*
From the exhibition
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c1504
(November 2024 - February 2025)
At the turn of the 16th century, three titans of the Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael – briefly crossed paths, competing for the attention of the most powerful patrons in Republican Florence.
On 25 January 1504, Florence’s most prominent artists met to advise on an appropriate location for Michelangelo’s nearly finished David. Among them was Leonardo da Vinci, who – like Michelangelo – had only recently returned to his native Florence.
Starting with Michelangelo’s celebrated Taddei Tondo, this exhibition explores the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo and the influence both had on the young Raphael.
See some of the finest examples of Italian Renaissance drawing, including Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon and the studies by Leonardo and Michelangelo for their murals commissioned by the Florentine government for the newly constructed council hall in the Palazzo Vecchio.
[*Royal Academy]
Taken in the Royal Academy
Two Male Nudes Seen from Behind, c1505
Raphael
Pen and brown ink and black chalk on paper
This scene of two male nudes on a riverbank closely relates to the ‘Battle of Cascina’.
Not a copy in the conventional sense, the sketch can be seen as an improvisation on the theme of Michelangelo’s ‘Bathers’. Raphael changed the point of view, showing the scene from the perspective of the bathers, as if stepping inside the composition.*
From the exhibition
Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c1504
(November 2024 - February 2025)
At the turn of the 16th century, three titans of the Italian Renaissance – Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael – briefly crossed paths, competing for the attention of the most powerful patrons in Republican Florence.
On 25 January 1504, Florence’s most prominent artists met to advise on an appropriate location for Michelangelo’s nearly finished David. Among them was Leonardo da Vinci, who – like Michelangelo – had only recently returned to his native Florence.
Starting with Michelangelo’s celebrated Taddei Tondo, this exhibition explores the rivalry between Michelangelo and Leonardo and the influence both had on the young Raphael.
See some of the finest examples of Italian Renaissance drawing, including Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon and the studies by Leonardo and Michelangelo for their murals commissioned by the Florentine government for the newly constructed council hall in the Palazzo Vecchio.
[*Royal Academy]
Taken in the Royal Academy