Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael

Leonardo da Vinci , The Virgin and Child with St Anne and the Infant St John the Baptist ('The Burlington House Cartoon'), c.1506-08, National Gallery, London.

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.

The exhibition displays 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.

Exhibition organised by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in partnership with Royal Collection Trust and the National Gallery, London.