Art on the move in Renaissance Italy

The scholar and author David Landau’s new study captures a unique moment of extraordinary artistic creativity in the life of Renaissance Italy, from around 1500 up to and specifically 1506.

This creativity was stimulated by constant movement of art and artists – and, often, their families and workshops – from one city to another, one court to another, one monastery to another, in search of work, patrons and prestige projects. Landau examines the impact of these interactions on the people involved, charting the remarkably rapid diffusion of styles, motifs and artistic innovations across Italy’s regions and in exchange with other countries.

Landau is joined in conversation by our Director Sir Gabriele Finaldi. They will discuss the lives of itinerant artists, from the very famous, like Michelangelo, and other painters in our collection including Pintoricchio and Luca Signorelli, to the lesser-known ones, always worried about the next commission.

David Landau is a distinguished scholar and author of some important books in the field of Renaissance art history. He was the co-founder of Print Quarterly and its Editor for 27 years. He wrote with Peter Parshall The Renaissance Print, 1470–1550, winner of the Mitchell Prize in 1995. He has written particularly on Andrea Mantegna and Albrecht Dürer.

Sir Gabriele Finaldi is our Director. He was formerly Deputy Director for Collections and Research at the Prado Museum, Spain, and has been a curator at the National Gallery. A world expert on Italian and Spanish art, he studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, has written widely and curated many exhibitions.