Florence, 1504 – the setting of what may have been the ultimate clash of the titans of western art. In that year, the ageing Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti – recently returned from triumph in Rome – and the new genius on the block, Raffaello Sanzio from Urbino across the Apennines, crossed paths in the Italian city.
Their working together in the same city, a hotbed of intrigue and turmoil, copying, studying each other, and seeking new audiences and patrons, is the subject of the Royal Academy’s new exhibition Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence 1504.
