Corpi moderni. The Making of the Body in Renaissance Venice. Leonardo, Michelangelo, Dürer, Giorgione

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Proportional Study of the Male Body (‘Vitruvian Man’), 1498, silverpoint, pen and ink, diluted ink on paper, 345 x 246 mm. Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Inv. 228r.

Corpi Moderni offers a fascinating exploration of the conception of the human body that emerged in Renaissance Venice, spanning art, science, and material culture. It delves into how, for the first time, the body was conceived as a field of scientific investigation, an object of desire, and a means of self-expression. The Renaissance marks a turning point where the body is no longer merely a biological entity but a cultural construct, shaped by science, art, and social conventions.

The exhibition brings together extraordinary works of art, some presented in Italy for the first time, including drawings, paintings, and sculptures from the most prestigious international and national museums and collections. Masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Giorgione, and Giovanni Bellini are featured alongside scientific instruments, anatomical models, books, garments, miniatures, and everyday objects.The exhibition is divided into three major sections. The first, "Il corpo svelato: conoscere", delves into the discovery of the human body as an object of scientific and medical study, with Padua and Venice serving as two key European centers of this exploration.

On this occasion, Leonardo's famous Vitruvian Man, one of the iconic treasures of the Gallerie dell'Accademia and an international symbol of global cultural heritage, will be on public display again after six years. For the first time, it will be presented alongside an ancient Greek metrological relief, sparking a reflection on the concepts of "measure" and "ideal," rooted in antiquity.

The second section, "Il corpo nudo: desiderare", examines the representation of the body as an object of gaze and desire. On one side, the female nude, depicted in the iconic Renaissance invention of the reclining Venus, gracefully posed within a landscape—a motif that continues to influence art to this day. On the other, the lyrical, suffering, and sublime male body of saints and biblical heroes, portrayed in the style of classical antiquity.

The desire of the body ensuring lineage and future is depicted through domestic objects such as cassoni (wedding chests), childbirth trays, and exquisite portraits of young brides who, by subtly concealing one breast, evoke a controlled sense of eroticism —a common iconographic tradition in the Venetian region. In this context, Titian’s enigmatic painting The Lovers from the British Royal Collection at Windsor takes center stage. The man’s gesture of caressing his lover’s exposed breast has only recently been interpreted as a symbolic act affirming the marital bond. Also on display is the only known copy of Pietro Aretino’s Sonetti Lussiuriosi (private collection) and a remarkable woman’s cap from the 16th century, the only surviving example of such a finely crafted female headpiece, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The third and final section, "Il corpo costruito: rappresentarsi", examines the body as a cultural space of representation. Clothing, surgical treatises, cosmetic tools, and personal care accessories reveal the Renaissance man and woman’s drive to conform to social standards and models, reflected in their portrayal through a specific inventory of symbols and adornments defining masculinity and femininity. Among the items related to beauty, a rare 16th-century casket—a luxurious predecessor to today’s makeup box— containing mirrors, perfumes, and self-care objects (private collection).

The exhibition also investigates the concept of transcending the body itself, displaying armor and mechanical prosthetics used for the first time during the Renaissance to replace limbs lost in war and reinforcing the body’s role as a place of experimentation, metamorphosis, and transformation. Furthermore, gesture, expression, and physical exercise were, in this context, tools to shape the body beyond its natural state.

Corpi moderni invites visitors on a journey into the body of the early modern era, exploring ways of thinking often mistakenly considered exclusive to our time. The exhibition connects audiences to questions that dominate both contemporary and historical science, art, and mythology: the nature and future of humanity, sexuality and reproduction, beauty and aging, the boundaries of the human, and identity itself.

A comprehensive catalog of the exhibition is being published by Marsilio Arte, edited by Giulio Manieri Elia, Guido Beltramini, and Francesca Borgo, featuring essays by leading international and Italian experts.