See How Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael Entered and Exited Each Other’s Worlds

In the early 16th century, three of the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance circled each other in Florence, vying for influence and looking for inspiration. Now, an exhibition—titled “Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504”—at the Royal Academy of Arts in London reexamines the renowned trio.

The show spotlights the year 1504 because that’s when the three came together. Michelangelo, who had just completed his statue David, and Leonardo da Vinci were already in Florence; Raphael traveled to the city that year to study Leonardo’s work.

Leonardo, who was around 52, was “celebrated as a painter, engineer and multidisciplinary explorer in the realms of science and philosophy,” writes Charles Nicholl, author of Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind, for the Guardian. Meanwhile, Michelangelo, 29, was “a rising star, brash, truculent and already sporting the famous boxer’s nose, smashed in a fight with a rival sculptor”; Raphael, 21, was “a talented young unknown scouting for new inspiration and patronage.”

The show features more than 40 works, beginning with the Taddei Tondo (circa 1504-5), Michaelangelo’s only marble sculpture in the United Kingdom. Commissioned by art patron and cloth merchant Taddeo Taddei, the unfinished white marble relief features an infant John the Baptist presenting a bird to the infant Christ, who is held in Mary’s arms.

Raphael, a friend of Taddeo Taddei, was inspired by the Taddei Tondo. Several years later, the piece would influence the artist’s Bridgewater Madonna (1507-8), a painting featured nearby in the exhibition.

“In the painting, [Raphael] adopts the tondo’s entwined figures, the serpentine movement of Jesus across his mother’s lap, and brings vibrant color and tender elegance—Mary’s enclosing clasp, the baby tugging her veil,” as the Financial Times’ Jackie Wullschläger writes.

Leonardo’s Burlington House Cartoon (circa 1506-8) is the focus of the show’s central gallery. The work was likely created as a “presentation drawing: a full-sized study of what the planned picture might look like, which could be shown to a patron, or group of patrons,” per London’s National Gallery. The piece is the only large-scale drawing by Leonardo to survive.

The show ends with a collection of drawings by Leonardo and Michelangelo, created in preparation for projects intended to adorn the Palazzo Vecchio. Florence’s government commissioned Leonardo to paint a mural, the Battle of Anghiari, in 1503. The following year, Michelangelo was commissioned to paint the Battle of Cascina in the same hall.

The frescoes were never completed, but the drawings shed light on the two artists’ generative relationship. Leonardo “maintains his fascination with extreme facial expressions,” while Michelangelo excels at “the male nude in action, with every muscle outlined, crosshatched and highlighted,” writes the New York Times’ Emily LaBarge.

“In some of the drawings,” adds the Times, “the two men swap preoccupations, as though looking over each other’s shoulders, tentatively testing the waters, before returning to what they do best.”

“Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504” is on view at the Royal Academy of Arts in London through February 16, 2025.

Olatunji Osho-Williams | READ MORE

Olatunji Osho-Williams is an intern with Smithsonian magazine.