Treasures from Budapest: European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele at the Royal Academy of Arts

Leonardo da Vinci
Studies for the Heads of Two Soldiers in the Battle of Anghiari
c.1504–5.
Soft black chalk or charcoal with some traces of red chalk.

Treasures from Budapest: European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele at the Royal Academy Royal Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of works which will showcase the breadth and wealth of one of the finest collections in Central Europe. The exhibition will feature over 200 works and will include paintings, drawings and sculpture from the early Renaissance to the twentieth century

25 September – 12 December 2010

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Source: Royal Academy of Arts
Selected works by artists including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, El Greco, Rubens,Goya, Manet, Monet, Schiele, Gauguin and Picasso will be on display, many of which have notpreviously been shown in the UK. The exhibition comprises works from the Museum of Fine Arts,Budapest, with additional key loans from the Hungarian National Gallery.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest houses the state collection of international art works inHungary and includes the Esterházy collection, acquired by the Hungarian state in 1871. Thecollection began in the seventeenth century but expanded during the rule of Prince Nikolaus IIEsterházy (1765 – 1833) who was responsible for developing the fine collection of Old Masterpaintings and drawings which will be showcased in the exhibition. One of the highlights of theexhibition will be Raphael’s Virgin and Child with St John the Baptist, 1508 (known as The EsterházyMadonna).

The show will be organised chronologically, with thematic sections which will consider the richnessof the collections in relation to religious works, mythological subjects, portraiture and landscapepaintings. The exhibition will open with the dramatic “St. Andrew Altarpiece”, 1512, from”Liptószentandrás”, drawing attention to the wealth of skill and sophistication of early wood carving inHungary. The work will reflect the influence and exchanges of culture with Northern Europeanpainters, sculptors and carvers.

Key works from the early Italian School will include rare and exquisite Renaissance bronzesculptures attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea Riccio as well as fifteenth century devotionalpaintings by Jacopo del Sellaio and Liberale da Verona. The Northern European Schools will berepresented through paintings by Lucas Cranach and Maarten van Heemskerck. At the heart of theexhibition will sit a selection of over eighty Old Master drawings which will include works byLeonardo da Vinci, Dürer, Altdorfer, Carracci and Tiepolo and will range from preparatory studies topresentation drawings.

The Italian School will remain prominent throughout the galleries dedicated to the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries and will include religious and mythological paintings by artists includingTintoretto and Guercino whilst works by Poussin and Laurent de la Hyre will highlight the Frenchschool. Large scale paintings by Rubens and Jacob Jordaens will showcase the Flemish school andthe exceptional Spanish collection will be displayed through works by El Greco and Murillo.Treasures from Budapest: European Masterpieces from Leonardo to Schiele will also include stilllifes, landscapes and portraits by some of Europe’s finest artists, including works by RoyalAcademicians Sir Joshua Reynolds, John Constable and Angelica Kauffmann. The exhibition willconclude with a showcase of twentieth century artists including Monet, Chagall, Picasso and Schielealongside works by Hungarian artists such as Károly Ferenczy and József Rippl-Rónai.