Feature: THE BIG PICTURE - Treasures from Budapest: European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele - the Royal Academy
Published: 28 October 2010
TREASURES from Budapest: European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele at the Royal Academy of Arts showcases the breadth and wealth of one of the finest collections in Central Europe. More than 200 works are featured, including paintings, drawings and sculpture from the early Renaissance to the 20th century.
Comprising works from the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, with additional key loans from the Hungarian National Gallery, the exhibition considers the richness of the collections in relation to religious works, mythological subjects, portraiture, still lifes and landscape painting.
The exhibition opens with the dramatic St Andrew Altarpiece, 1512, from Liptószentandrás, drawing attention to the wealth of skill and sophistication of early wood carving in Hungary, and reflects the influence and exchanges of culture with northern European painters, sculptors and carvers.
Key works from the early Italian School include rare and exquisite Renaissance bronze sculptures attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Riccio as well as 15th-century devotional paintings by Jacopo Parisati da Montagnana and Liberale da Verona.
At the heart of the exhibition is a selection of more than 80 Old Master drawings which includes works by Leonardo da Vinci, Albrecht Dürer, Albrecht Altdorfer, Annibale Carracci and Giambattista Tiepolo and ranges from preparatory studies to presentation drawings.
The Italian School remains prominent throughout the galleries dedicated to the 16th and 17th centuries and includes religious and mythological paintings by artists including Jacopo Tintoretto and Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino) while works by Nicolas Poussin and Laurent de la Hyre highlight the French School.
Large scale paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens showcase the Flemish School and the exceptional Spanish collection is displayed through works by El Greco, Goya, Jusepe de Ribera and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.
The exhibition concludes with a showcase of works by Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Camille Pissarro and 20th century artists including Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso and Egon Schiele alongside works by Hungarian artists such as Károly Ferenczy and József Rippl-Rónai.
• Treasures from Budapest: European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele is at the Royal Academy, Piccadilly, W1, until December 12, 10am-6pm daily (last admission 5.30pm); Fridays until 10pm (last admission 9.30pm); £12, concessions available, 0844 209 0051, www.royalacademy.org.uk