Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504 ★★★★ Royal Academy of Arts | Nov 9, 2024 - Feb 16, 2025


In 1504 a remarkable meeting took place in Florence. Its purpose was to decide where Michelangelo's sculpture of David should be placed and in attendance was Leonardo da Vinci who had recently returned to the city. In that same year, a young Raphael also arrived in Florence. It was an extraordinary coming together of these three leading Renaissance artists, and the current exhibition seeks to provide an insight into the possible interconnection of their creative processes. The highlights of the show are Raphael's The Virgin and Child ('The Bridgewater Madonna') c. 1507-1508, Michelangelo's The Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist ('The Taddei Tondo') c. 1504-1505 and Leonardo's The Burlington House Cartoon c. 1506-1508. These are all extraordinary pieces in their own right, but they take on new meaning in this special context. Michelangelo's tondo with the Christ child twisting to avoid the goldfinch, while simultaneously looking back, is a motif copied in Raphael's The Bridgewater Madonna and it resonates with the posture of the figure in Leonardo's The Burlington House Cartoon. A captivating, not-to-be-missed sidenote to this study in influence is Raphael's drawing of Michelangelo's David. It is an exquisite small piece that beautifully shows the pupil learning from the master. The exhibition concludes in the third gallery, "The Battles of Leonardo and Michelangelo," with a consideration of the preparatory works for two large murals which were never completed. The focus is on the central scenes of the two works: The Battle of Anghiari c. 1505 by Leonardo and The Battle of Cascina ('The Bathers') c. 1542 by Michelangelo. The opportunity to compare and contrast the two visions and the different decisions regarding the subject matter is quite fascinating as again we recognise striking similarities and differences between the artists' approaches. Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504 sets up a fascinating conversation between these three towering artistic figures and opens up interesting new windows into their creative processes.

Rated: ★★★★

Reviewed by J.C.
Image: Michelangelo Buonarroti, The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John ('The Taddei Tondo'), c. 1504-05. Royal Academy of Arts, London. Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London, Photographer: Prudence Cuming Associates Limited

When, Where, Getting there:
Map & Location: Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BD, UK

Most Popular

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

ABBA Voyage ★★★★★ ABBA Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park | Extended Run

Image
When great music from the past meets mind boggling technology from the future, the result is ABBA Voyage . This is a concert like no other. In a purpose built arena designed specifically for the show, massive high resolution LED screens, advanced lighting, and surround sound are used to create a fully immersive ABBA concert experience. Although the group’s last appearance in London was at Wembley Arena in 1979, they return technologically in this extraordinary production. These are not holograms or AI generated performances. This is a meticulously animated concert based on real performances by the band themselves. To achieve this effect, the group came together and re-performed their music using motion capture technology. They partnered with top visual effects experts to digitally recreate their younger selves. While the show includes a live band and backup singers, the Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid seen on stage appear every bit as real as their original counterparts. One quick...
Full Details »

Shadowlands ★★★★★ Aldwych Theatre | Feb 5 - May 9, 2026

Image
Shadowlands opens with the author C. S. Lewis, best known for The Chronicles of Narnia , wrestling with the question that underpins much of his work: why would an omnipotent, all-loving Christian God permit suffering and evil in the world? The play recounts the true story of how the celebrated children’s writer, Christian apologist and medieval scholar encountered both the rapture of love and the devastation of loss when, in middle age, he met the brilliant young American divorcee, Joy Davidman. For Lewis, still marked by the early death of his mother and constrained by the Church’s strictures against divorce, the relationship was at once emotionally perilous and theologically troubling. Yet what began as a meeting of minds deepened into a profound and transformative love, compelling him to confront fears he had long kept at bay. When Joy falls ill and later dies, his faith is tested in ways that render abstract arguments painfully immediate. The struggle to reconcile divine love with...
Full Details »

Man and Boy ★★★★ National Theatre | Jan 30 - Mar 14, 2026

Image
Terence Rattigan worked on his play Man and Boy from 1954 until its first production in 1963. It was intended as a statement of his continued relevance in a British theatre transformed by the arrival of figures such as John Osborne in the late 1950s. Set in the 1930s in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash, the play is a pointed critique of capitalism at its most ruthless. At its centre is Gregor Antonescu, a figure of unrelenting ambition and amoral callousness. Even Patrick Bateman from American Psycho appears to be a rather low-level hustler by comparison. In this current version of Rattigan’s drama, Antonescu is even willing to pimp out his own son. His venal materialism is painted in broad strokes, and Ben Daniels plays the character with an over-the-top energy and swagger, cajoling and conning anyone who stands between him and his goals. His humiliation of the accountant who believes he has uncovered Antonescu's fraud is wonderfully arch, and Leo Wan as David Beeston reca...
Full Details »

Cash on Delivery ★★★★ The Mill at Sonning | Feb 5 - Apr 4, 2026

Image
If the weather is bleak and sodden, The Mill at Sonning offers the perfect antidote to the winter doldrums: a generous meal, a nice glass of wine and a riotously absurd comedy by Michael Cooney. In Cash on Delivery , Eric Swan has been fraudulently claiming benefits to which he is not entitled. When he finally resolves to put matters right, events spiral spectacularly out of control in ways he could never have foreseen. The mechanics of farce are familiar to seasoned theatregoers, yet the satisfaction of watching someone else's unravelling remains undimmed. A host of Sonning favourites return to the stage in this production. Steven Pinder is superb as the slippery schemer ensnared in his own labyrinth of lies, while James Bradshaw shines as the endearingly flustered lodger and Swan’s unwilling accomplice in the ever-expanding tangle of deceit. Natasha Gray brings warmth and bite to Eric’s exasperated, long-suffering wife, and Harry Gostelow is absolutely spot on as the hopelessly ...
Full Details »

Iolanthe ★★★★★ Wilton's Music Hall | Feb 17 - 28, 2026

Image
Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe , or The Peer and the Peri premiered in 1882 to warm acclaim from critics and the public alike. In 2020 Charles Court Opera unveiled its imaginative reworking of the classic, but the Covid pandemic curtailed its run after only four preview performances. Now returning to London and accompanied by the Charles Court Opera Chamber Orchestra, this judiciously refreshed production deserves nothing less than the wholehearted enthusiasm that greeted the original. The opera’s satire of the House of Lords and the British legal system remains deliciously pointed. When the assembled peers discover that there exists a social order superior to their own, both more capricious and more powerful than they could ever hope to be, their pomposity is punctured with exquisite precision. Within the framework of a tender love story between Strephon, half mortal and half fairy, and his beloved Phyllis, Gilbert deftly and lightheartedly exposes the absurdities of those who presu...
Full Details »

Savage ★★ White Bear Theatre | Feb 25 - Mar 15, 2026

Image
Savage confronts a historically shocking and distressingly contemporary issue: the targeting of homosexual men with conversion therapy. The play recounts the horrific experiments carried out under the Nazi regime in Denmark to "cure" homosexuality and tells the true story of Dr Vaernet, who collaborated with Hitler’s regime in the belief that sexual orientation could be changed. This historical reality is dramatised through the story of Nikolai, a young Danish man, and his American lover, Zack. While Zack manages to escape the Nazi experiments, Nikolai endures them. Regrettably, this crucial historical legacy is presented simplistically and didactically. The characters are one-dimensional, and the plot is entirely predictable. The revelation that the Nazi persecutor of Nikolai is himself gay is unsurprising. It is almost a cliché that much homophobia is driven by repression of one’s own desires.The play’s simplistic characterisation is exacerbated by the production. Despite ...
Full Details »

Samurai ★★★★★ The British Museum | Feb 3 - May 4, 2026

Image
“Samurai.” The word conjures images of fierce Japanese warriors in elaborate helmets with swords drawn, but this superb presentation reveals that there is far more to know about this class that came to dominate Japan’s political life and whose legacy still lingers in many aspects of contemporary culture. Structured in three sections, Rise of the Samurai AD 800 to 1600, The Long Peace 1600 to the 1850s and After the Samurai 1876 to the present , the exhibition demonstrates the importance of the samurai, both men and women, not only in warfare but also in the governance and cultural development of Japan. Bringing together more than two hundred and eighty objects from twenty nine lenders, the show offers a rich array of flamboyant helmets and intricate armour, alongside depictions of combat in scrolls by masters such as Hiroshige. There are also revealing glimpses behind the public image the samurai sought to project. Displays of smoking accoutrements, a popular pastime for both male and ...
Full Details »

'Sweet Mambo' ★★★ Sadler's Wells Theatre | February 11 - 21, 2026

Image
‘Sweet Mambo’ is the penultimate piece choreographed by Pina Bausch before her death in 2009. It is now receiving its premiere at Sadler’s Wells, with seven of the original nine dancers still in the cast. Their continued presence is a remarkable tribute both to their stamina and to the lasting appeal of Bausch’s choreography. Sadler’s Wells has now staged twenty-one of her twenty-two works. Mounting the production at this venue posed particular technical difficulties, notably the recreation of the wind-blown curtain design by Peter Pabst. For the most part, the result justifies the wait. The vast swathes of fabric dominate the stage, generating striking visual effects that at times overshadow the movement which frequently seems more like performance art than dance theatre. In 'Sweet Mambo', Bausch draws on the meta tropes prevalent at the time in which the work was made. Performers address the audience directly and dissolve the fourth wall by stepping into the auditorium. Once ...
Full Details »

Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans ★★★★ The British Museum | Jan 15 - May 25, 2026

Image
This small yet thoughtful exhibition explores the long-standing connections between two island nations. The relationship between Britain and Hawaiʻi dates back to Captain James Cook’s third voyage in 1778. He became the first European to document contact with the Pacific archipelago and that connection still resonates today, most visibly in the Hawaiian state flag (Ka Hae Hawaiʻi), which continues to display the Union Jack in its top-left corner. This display at the British Museum draws primarily on the museum’s own extensive collections, complemented by judicious loans from other institutions, including the Bishop Museum in Hawaiʻi. It is organised into three main sections: Laying a foundation, Allying kingdoms , and Reshaping relationships . The first section introduces visitors to Hawaiʻi's distinctive art, history, and cultural traditions. The second focuses on the 1824 visit of King Kamehameha II (also known as Liholiho) and Queen Kamāmalu to London, and on their tragic deaths...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings