The new Wolf Hall? Bitter rivalries in Renaissance Florence coming to BBC

Renaissance Florence bubbled with deceit and corruption. It was the place menaced and blackmailed by Cesare Borgia and ruled on the advice of Niccolò Machiavelli himself. Yet inside this treacherous city, three of the greatest names in art vied to create works of transcendent beauty. Each of them is still recognised by only one of their names: they are Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael.

Not much written evidence survives of the creative rivalry that raged between these men – and what has endured often does not stand up to scrutiny. But this autumn the British public will have the chance to witness the competition between these revered artists with their own eyes for the first time. In fact, they will be able to see it twice: once on the walls of the Royal Academy of Arts, where drawings by this trio of masters will be brought together for comparison as never before (from 9 November), and later on television.

The BBC last week announced a three-part drama documentary, Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty, which will star Charles Dance as Michelangelo Buonarroti. The series will show how key works of western art emerged from an era of violence and political rivalry. Charting the lives of the three artists, it will also explain the power exercised by their rich patrons in 16th-century Italy.

“We have, alas, no reliable record of any firsthand encounters between these three great figures,” said Sarah Dunant, who has spent decades researching Italy’s Renaissance history for novels including Blood and Beauty, a 2013 fictionalised history of the city. “But there are stories of course.”

One Florentine legend suggests the younger Michelangelo and Leonardo once argued violently in the street over who had the better reputation.

So when it comes to recreating a moody, threatening world, this drama, made in collaboration with US network PBS, could stand shoulder to shoulder with the BBC’s other 16th-century hit, Wolf Hall, based on Hilary Mantel’s historical trilogy. A third series of the drama comes to television screens later this year.

The Blood and the Beauty will focus on the Italian artists’ battles for prestige and high-profile commissions. Most of the information about their efforts comes from the writings of their gossipy fellow painter and chronicler, Giorgio Vasari. But now the real proof, in the form of their drawings, will be on view from 9 November in London’s RA.

“There is little textual evidence, so we have worked it out by looking at the works,” said Per Rumberg, who is now curatorial head at London’s National Gallery, but worked on the RA show. “Vasari said they had a strong dislike, but he only knew Michelangelo a little, and not Leonardo, so we have always taken it with a pinch of salt. But all becomes clear in the drawings, where we see what they have learned from each other. We are gathering them together for the first time on the same gallery wall.”

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452 and returned to Florence, the city of his youth, as he was nearing 50. He was already famous for his painting the Last Supper in Milan, and was looking for new challenges. In 1503 he began work on the Mona Lisa and then was asked to make a mural for the main hall, the Salone dei Cinquecento, in the city’s Palazzo Vecchio.

“The council of the city republic wanted something as grand as his Last Supper,” said Rumberg. “But Leonardo had barely begun when he was called to Milan to work for the French governor there.”

His rival, Michelangelo, was pitched against him for the job, in a kind of face-off. Michelangelo began work in the palazzo too, but was called away in 1508 to work on the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Much later, in 1563, Vasari was asked to decorate the vast space, and may have painted over Leonardo’s earlier efforts.

“Michelangelo, born in 1475, was almost a generation younger than Leonardo and would have been just seven when the elder artist first left Florence. But he later went off too, working in Bologna and Rome, and making his name with his Pietà,” said Rumberg.

Returning to Florence in his late 20s, Michelangelo planned to concentrate on sculpture and soon won a major commission for a colossal marble statue, eventually sited opposite the Palazzo Vecchio. This was his David, a work delivered pretty much on time in 1504 and still one of the most recognisable in the world.

“Michelangelo was very determined and ambitious, while Leonardo had many other interests and could not finish things. This is what our exhibition is about,” said Rumberg. “We can see the rivalry played out in the work and their influences. In his mural, Leonardo wanted to show the violence of battle and created a horse in motion, while Michelangelo chose the moment of stillness before a battle starts.”

The youngest of the three, Raphael went to Florence because he had heard about the art being made there. On arrival he studied and learned from both stars.

“He saw that something new was happening and unashamedly copied Michelangelo’s David and his Taddei Tondo, now at the RA, and then Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.

“He studied Leonardo’s battle scene, clearly having access to his drawings, to understand his compositions. We have the drawings to prove it,” said Rumberg.