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Articles

Renaissance

Our Collection

> 1 year ago

How to read it: Michelangelo’s Taddei Tondo

Currently on display at the National Gallery, the Virgin and Child with the Infant St John, known as the Taddei Tondo, is the only marble sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti in a UK collection. It will return to the RA to join our new collections displays for our 250th anniversary in 2018.
The flooded Accademia Gallery in Florence, in 1966, with Michelangelo’s David at the far end

RA Recommends

< 2 years ago

The tidemarks of Florence’s great flood

Fifty years since Florence was hit by the floods that destroyed not only lives but invaluable art treasures, Claudia Pritchard reports on the legacy.
Titian, Jacopo Pesaro Being Presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter (detail)

RA Exhibitions

> 2 years ago

How to read a Renaissance painting

Renaissance painters combined technical innovation with a richly symbolic visual language. But what did it all mean? The RA’s Lucy Chiswell zooms in on an example from our exhibition In the Age of Giorgione.
Giorgione, Portrait of a Young Man ('Giustiniani Portrait') (detail)

RA Exhibitions

< 3 years ago

The portrait debate: Giorgione or Titian?

Who painted this young Venetian nobleman? When it comes to Giorgione, questions of attribution have divided opinion for centuries. We invited two experts to argue it out – read both sides then cast your vote.
Giorgione, Il Tramonto

RA Exhibitions

3 years ago

Giorgione’s Venice: A beginner’s guide

Coming to the RA this spring are iconic works by Giorgione, Dürer, Bellini, Titian and more, in a celebration of Venetian painting in the early 16th century. Here are six key insights into one of the most influential moments in art history.

Giovanni Battista Moroni, A Gentleman in Adoration before the Baptism of Christ (detail)

RA Exhibitions

4 years ago

Why Moroni should be as famous as Titian

As visitors to the RA discover the work of Giovanni Battista Moroni, James Hall looks at the particular genius of this overlooked Renaissance portraitist – and why he lost out to the likes of Titian.
Charles Saumarez Smith in front of Giovanni Battista Moroni's 'Prospero Alessandri', c. 1560 (Oil on canvas, 105 x 83 cm. Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna)

Opinion

4 years ago

Point of view: What it’s like to sit for a portrait

As our exhibition of the great portraitist Giovanni Battista Moroni opens, the RA’s Charles Saumarez Smith reflects on the experience of having his own portrait painted.
Giovanni Battista Moroni, Portrait of a Young Lady (detail)

RA Exhibitions

4 years ago

Giovanni Battista Moroni: A beginner’s guide

In October, the RA opens an exhibition of work by one of the greatest portrait painters of all time, Giovanni Battista Moroni. But he is comparatively little known – certainly when compared to the giants of Italian painting like Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto. We spoke to exhibition curator Arturo Galansino to find out more about what sets Moroni apart.