The enjoyment of the Royal Academy show is multi-layered, from seeing the masters up close at work to understanding the power. to disparage: A central element of Florentine art education, which viewed drawing as, to quote Vasari, “the animating principle of all creative processes… the father of all arts.” Pages filled with the chaos of helmeted warriors, flailing horses, distorted bodies, suffering faces, and half-naked figures caught in dusty violence testify to the eye’s intense journey from hand to page; Spontaneity, concentration, curiosity; they all convey a liveliness and immediacy that is sometimes missing from the finished product, no matter how impressive. They also shed light on another cornerstone of Renaissance culture: how many artists inspired, copied, and copied (literally) from the past, whether excavated Roman ruins and statues or the works of their immediate masters. immersive, has grown to develop its own uniqueness. Rather than being born entirely from the head of Zeus, genius developed from the rich soil.

There would never be a finished grand hall for Luca Landucci to write about in his diary. Small works by Leonardo on his wall were peeling and disappearing (some say he used too much heat to speed drying, others say he worked with poor quality linseed oil). Meanwhile, the days of the last Florentine republic were numbered. By 1512, a Medici group supported by the Spanish army had overthrown the government. Piero Soderini fled to Dalmatia and Machiavelli went into exile in his farmhouse in Tuscany; here, in the disappointment of returning to politics, he wrote a little treatise on the workings of power and princes; political philosophy.

The last gasp of the Italian republic may have been brief, but it was surprisingly colorful and creative. Stand in front of these drawings long enough and you can almost imagine yourself being there.

Sarah Dunant is a novelist and publisher. His five novels set in Renaissance Italy include: On Behalf of the Family And Birth of Venus (both Virago).

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c. 1504 At the Royal Academy of Arts from 9 November 2024 to 16 February 2025. The exhibition was organized by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in partnership with the Royal Collection Trust and the National Gallery, London.