‘Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo’ at Palazzo Strozzi

A retrospective on Verrocchio’s art and its interaction with Leonardo and other pupils from his workshop

From 09 March 2019 to 14 July 2019

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From 9 March to 14 July 2019 Palazzo Strozzi in Florence hosts the exhibition ‘Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo’ the first major retrospective dedicated to one of the most significant Renaissance artists in Florence. The event is one of the most important amongst those celebrating the 500th anniversary of the death of the great inventor. The Verrocchio exhibition in Florence, which also includes a special section at the Bargello Museum, will showcase 120 works by different artists from the most important world museums: the Uffizi, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A truly unique opportunity to admire works and drawings relating to the early years of Leonardo da Vinci and many other testimonies of the artistic production in Florence between 1460 and 1490. The works on show, which will include sculptures, drawings and paintings, will link Andrea del Verrocchio’s art with that of other artists who worked in his workshop such as Pietro Perugino, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, his most famous pupil. The Palazzo Strozzi exhibition, curated by the two of the greatest experts of 15th-century arts, Francesco Caglioti and Andrea de Marchi, is set to be a truly unmissable event both for art lovers and those who want to learn more during their visit to Florence about the artistic atmosphere which characterized Florence at the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent. What’s more, displayed at the exhibition you will find works whose otherwise visit would have required you to travel across half the Earth from Paris and Berlin to London, Amsterdam and New York. There could be no better opportunity! An incredible collection of masterpieces all on show at Palazzo Strozzi in the Verrocchio exhibition.

VERROCCHIO EXHIBITION AT PALAZZO STROZZI

• VERROCCHIO’S STUDIO. Verrocchio was undoubtedly one of the most important and emblematic characters of the Florentine Renaissance. He was born in Florence between 1434 and 1437 and over the years he devoted himself to drawing, marble sculpture, bronze casting, painting: his workshop was a true breeding place for creativity. The workshop was in fact the typical place where artists learnt their skills. All the assistants participated in various ways, depending on their abilities and individual specializations, in the creation of the works that Verrocchio was commissioned to do. Many artists worked in his workshop, including, besides Leonardo da Vinci, the likes of Pietro Perugino, Domenico il Ghirlandaio and Sandro Botticelli, who contributed to spreading throughout Italy and beyond Florence’s culture and arts of the time. As evidence of all this at the Strozzi Palace exhibition you can admire works such Verrocchio’s David, a bronze statue that is one of the symbols of Florence itself and is on loan from the Bargello. Verrocchio’s Putto with dolphin hails instead from the Museum of Palazzo Vecchio, another sculpture which has become a byword for beauty and elegance. As for the paintings of the Florence Verrocchio exhibition, some true masterpieces will be exhibited that testify to the extraordinary talent of the master. These are two works that are presented together for the first time: Madonna with Child from the Gemääldgalerie in Berlin and Madonna and Child with Angels and the Archangels Raphael and Tobiolo on loan from the National Gallery in London. 
  
  

• VERROCCHIO AND LEONARDO. One of the aims of the exhibition is also to show the relationship between the master and his pupils and in particular with Leonardo da Vinci. To this purpose, a selection of drawings and paintings on linen by Verrocchio is presented which are compared with studies by the artists who trained in his workshop. Verrocchio’s Lady with Flowers is juxtaposed to studies of female arms by Leonardo da Vinci, which have been loaned from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. In addition to this study, the exhibition in Florence at Palazzo Strozzi shows early works by Leonardo da Vinci who worked in the bottega of Verrocchio during the 1470s. 
  
  

• MADONNA WITH CHILD. One of the highlights of the exhibition is certainly the Madonna with Child by Leonardo da Vinci. This clay sculpture comes from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London but is here exhibited as attributed to Antonio Rosellino. At the Palazzo Strozzi 2019 exhibition on Verrocchio the sculpture is instead presented as an early work by Leonardo da Vinci. As evidence of this theory, the work is compared with drawings of the great inventor which paint veils bearing an incredible similarity with those of the Madonna with Child. Furthermore, the sculpture is also compared with the Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci, which is normally on show at the Uffizi Gallery, and with the Vergine delle Rocce by Leonardo and Saint Anne, which are instead on loan from the Louvre in Paris. 
  
  

• SECTION AT THE BARGELLO MUSEUM. The exhibition "Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo" consists of eleven sections with two housed at the National Museum of the Bargello in Florence. This additional location is a 10 minutes’ walk from the main one and the visit is included in the Palazzo Strozzi exhibition ticket. The Bargello section of the exhibition is dedicated to the image of Christ and will focus on Christ and Doubting Thomas, another masterpiece by Verrocchio.

Have you marked the dates of the mostra at Palazzo Strozzi on Verrocchio and Leonardo? You have until 14 July after which the exhibition will go on show in New York at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC! You are better hurry up and plan a nice trip to Florence to make sure you are not missing the chance to see a truly unique exhibition. If you then want to add something extra to your ‘Renaissance full immersion’, we suggest you book our tour in the footsteps of the Medici Family! The era of Lorenzo the Magnificent will have no more secrets for you!

Palazzo strozzi 2019 exhibition: ‘Verrocchio, Master of Leonardo’

Dates: from 9 March to 14 July, 2019

Times: every day (including holidays) from 10.00 to 20.00. Thursday from 10.00 to 23.00