by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael – the greats of art history don’t get much bigger than they did in the Italian Renaissance.
The National Gallery houses a world-class collection of paintings by Italian artists from the 15th and 16th centuries, arguably the most progressive period in western art history.
From a Madonna by Leonardo to A Heavenly Greek Lovers by Botticelli, these are the extraordinary Renaissance paintings you’ll fall in love with at the National Gallery.
Paolo Uccello, Niccolò Mauruzi da Tolentino at the Battle of San Romano, probably around 1438-40
This enormously complex painting shows one of the leaps made in the early Renaissance: to paint paintings that were active and urgent, rather than stilted and awkward. This painting is one of three that were greatly admired at the time, also for their perspective. So admired, in fact, that the powerful nobleman Lorenzo de Medici bought one from the family they were commissioned for – and then simply took the other two down from the walls as well.
Fra Filippo Lippi, The Annunciation, c.1450-3
This exquisite work demonstrates the great Fra Filippo Lippi’s talent for subtle expression. The painting depicts the moment when the angel Gabriel meets Mary to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of God. Gabriel gives Mary a furtive but tender look as she reflects on the burden of responsibility she now has – it’s a tender moment that Lippi played beautifully. The work is exceptional but was probably originally used as an arch over the door or as a headboard.
Piero della Francesca, The Baptism of Christ, after 1437
While Piero della Francesca isn’t the most well-known name on this list, he was an enormously important artist. He was known in his time both as a geometric genius and as a painter who studied perspective and used it to enhance realism in his artworks. The dove that hovers over Christ’s head in this painting is foreshortened and looks like a cloud. It may not seem extraordinary to us, but this understanding of foreshortening was still in its infancy at the time.
Sandro Botticelli, Venus and Mars, c.1485
This painting was probably made for the side of a chest – that’s a pretty sight. Here Venus, the Greek goddess of love, gazes upon a sleeping Mars, the god of war, after a romantic clinch. The satyrs play with the weapon of Mars – he is disarmed and love has conquered war. This isn’t the only time Sandro Botticelli has painted Venus – you may also recognize her from his iconic depiction of her nativity, rising naked from a giant shell.
Carlo Crivelli, La Madonna della Rondine (The Madonna of the Swallows), after 1490
Carlo Crivelli knew how to mix the overwhelmingly beautiful with the downright creepy. His characters come across as strangely cold or indifferent and always enigmatic. This richly woven, compositionally complex masterpiece is one of the few Renaissance paintings in the gallery to retain its ornate gilded frame – it’s spectacular but not illustrated, so you’ll have to go and look for it. You can also see more of his slightly sinister figures in an entire room of his work at the National Gallery.
Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin of the Rocks (The Virgin with the Child Saint John Adoring the Christ Child Accompanied by an Angel), c.1491 – 1508
You didn’t think we’d skip a Leonardo, did you? One of only 24 known paintings of the ultimate Renaissance man, this work is actually one of two. There are two versions: the first, which is in the Louvre, depicted the same scene but gave Mary a clawed hand and the angel appeared to be making a slashing motion towards the baby Jesus’ neck. Strangely, those who commissioned the painting weren’t very happy, and Leonardo did this to make up for it.
Michelangelo, The Entombment (or Christ is Carried to His Tomb), c.1500-1
As with much of Michelangelo’s painted work, his talent as a sculptor is palpable. The figures in this unfinished painting of the revered great appear to have been carved from marble; Their undulating surfaces are mapped with devotion, the weight of their postures driving the composition. Still, it’s hard to figure out what the character in the lower-left corner is doing other than looking at her phone.
Giovanni Bellini, Doge Leonardo Loredan, c.1501-2
Yes, this is a painting. Consider that it was made nearly 400 years before the first click of a camera shutter, and the photorealistic nature of it becomes even more amazing. The lifelike modeling of the daylight shadow on the Doge’s defined cheek and forehead pulls him straight out of the page, a curious contrast to the emphasized flatness of the background. Bellini was a master of naturalistics and you can currently see this and many more of his works in the Mantegna & Bellini exhibition at the National Gallery.
Raphael, The Madonna of the Pinks (‘La Madonna dei Garofani’), c.1506-7
Raphael took gods and saints and made them fathers and daughters. In his paintings, the deities depicted so statically in the early Renaissance were given character and genuine humanity. In this depiction of the Madonna, she is no longer the passive guardian of the Infant Jesus, but a mother sharing a tender moment of joy while her infant son holds a flower. The work looks more like a family snapshot than a devotional picture.
Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne, 1520-3
The bright blue of the sky in this painting hits you instantly and stays with you forever. The painting has preserved its lapis lazuli pigment (made from the crushed semi-precious stone) exceptionally well, as fresh as if it had been repainted. It depicts the moment when Bacchus, the god of wine, stumbles out of the forest with his dissolute company – his eyes meet Ariadne’s and he falls in love instantly.
Mantegna & Bellini runs at the National Gallery from October 1 to January 27, 2019, and Lorenzo Lotto Portraits runs at the National Gallery from November 5 to February 10, 2019. Visit nationalgallery.org.uk for more information
