'Florence and its painters' exhibition opens in Munich
October 18, 2018
From the birthplace of Renaissance art, some 120 masterpieces by Florentine painters have gone on display in Munich.The exhibition at Munich's Alte Pinakothek provides a detailed insight into their working methods.
Image: Haydar Koyupinar
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Florence and its painters: From Giotto to Leonardo da Vinci
The Alte Pinakothek museum in Munich presents the artistic innovations of the Renaissance through a selection of works from Florence's most famous painters.
Image: Paris, Musée Arts Décoratifs, musée des Arts décoratifs
Patrons of the arts
Aristocratic families increased their wealth and power by marrying into competing dynasties. In the 14th and 15th centuries, they practically ruled the Italian city of Florence. They were also important patrons of the arts, commissioning portraits of their family members, such the one above by Piero del Pollaiolo from circa 1475-80.
Image: Paris, Musée Arts Décoratifs, musée des Arts décoratifs
More than just a portrait
To have your portrait painted by a renowned artist was seen a symbol of prestige, which is why all rich Florentines wanted to be immortalized in a painting like the one shown above of an unknown young man portrayed by Filippino Lippi circa 1485. The artists' workshops hired painters and apprentices to fill the heavy demand.
Image: Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art as a demonstration of power
Banker Cosimo de' Medici — portrayed above in a relief by an unknown artist — was one of the most powerful men of the Renaissance. Members of his influential family occupied the most important offices in Florence. They controlled the guilds, ran the largest banking houses and steered the fate of the Florentine Republic through skillful patronage.
Image: bpk/Skulpturensammlung und Museum für Byzantinische Kunst/J. P. Anders
Expressive imagery
Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli painted the "Lamentation of Christ" between 1490 and 1495 on soft, light poplar wood. The expressive original colors of this work owned by the Bavarian State Painting Collections were revealed through restoration.
Image: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, München
Sketches and studies
The exhibition also presents drawings. This sketch of a horse, made by Leonardo da Vinci, is a study of the animal's movements and muscles, which he aimed to reproduce realistically. For his anatomy studies, he even had corpse washers show him the internal organs of dead people. The artist ran a large workshop in Florence in the 15th century.
Image: The Royal Collection/HM Queen Elizabeth II
Familiar faces in a biblical scene
The painting "Adoration of the Magi" by Sandro Boticellli is one of the treasures of the Alte Pinakothek exhibition, on show through January 27, 2019. It depicts a biblical scene — but the people portrayed are Botticelli's contemporaries. Among others, Cosimo de' Medici, his son and his grandson were identified.
Image: Florenz, Gabinetto Fotografico delle Gallerie degli Uffizi
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Masterpieces of Florentine Renaissance painting can be admired as of Thursday at the exhibition "Florence and its Painters: From Giotto to Leonardo da Vinci" held at the Alte Pinakothek museum in Munich until January 27, 2019.
Florence, the capital city of Italy's Tuscany region, went through an important cultural shift during the 15th century, thanks to the patronage of powerful families such as the Medici, said the exhibition's curator Andreas Schumacher at the press presentation of the show.
Florence set the standards at the time, Schumacher added. Hundreds of artists, including renowned ones such as Domenico Ghirlandaio, Andrea del Verrocchio or Leonardo da Vinci, had their workshops there and their work was high in demand.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is the painting "Adoration of the Magi" by Sandro Botticelli, from circa 1475. The invaluable work was cautiously transported from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to Munich.
Altar pieces are also on show, including several panels painted by Fra Angelico in 1438/1440 for the high altar of the church of San Marco in Florence. The scenes from the lives of the Saints Cosmas and Damian as well as the Entombment of the Christ are usually scattered across several museums.
The Bavarian State Painting Collections also include a large number of works from this period that are also featured in the exhibition.
