The British Museum has brought together a stunning collection of drawings by all the big names of Italian renaissance art: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Botticelli, Verrocchio, Raphael and many others. With informative displays and videos about the technique and materials of drawing including the manufacture of paper, this is an exemplary exhibition. This drawing of Raffaellino del Garbo (left) shows the risen Christ based on Roman copies of Greek originals of the god Bacchus (right).
The explanation label beside this drawing says that Italian renaissance artists did not slavishly copy Classical models, but used them to spark their creativity. They engaged with these Greek and Roman predecessors in a dialogue, often with a competitive edge. That comment, overturning years of prejudice about the dead hand of classicism on contemporary art, seems to me sum excellently what Classicists are seeking to do in making the Classical world in all its facets (languages, literatures, art, history and so on) available to each new generation. How refreshing to be thought of “engaging in a dialogue with a competitive edge” with our classical models rather than the usual dreary assumptions of dryness, pedantry and outmoded ideas. Top marks to the exhibition and the curator Hugo Chapman.
The explanation label beside this drawing says that Italian renaissance artists did not slavishly copy Classical models, but used them to spark their creativity. They engaged with these Greek and Roman predecessors in a dialogue, often with a competitive edge. That comment, overturning years of prejudice about the dead hand of classicism on contemporary art, seems to me sum excellently what Classicists are seeking to do in making the Classical world in all its facets (languages, literatures, art, history and so on) available to each new generation. How refreshing to be thought of “engaging in a dialogue with a competitive edge” with our classical models rather than the usual dreary assumptions of dryness, pedantry and outmoded ideas. Top marks to the exhibition and the curator Hugo Chapman.
No comments:
Post a Comment