Louvre loans rare Renaissance masterpieces to Florence

A priceless selection of drawings identified as the work of some of Italy's greatest Renaissance luminaries has gone on show in Florence in the building where Michelangelo once lived.
Over 80 sheets of drawings are displayed at the Casa Buonarroti, including masterpieces by Pisanello, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Fra Bartolomeo, Benozzo Gozzoli, Maso Finiguerra, Battista Franco and Cavalier d'Arpino.
The exhibition opens with a group of 21 International Gothic drawings, displayed so both sides are visible. The front pages show ancient castles, with finely crafted architecture and figure drawings on the reverse.
The scenes include An Angel Defeating Vices, Saint George and the Dragon, Crucifixion with God the Father and Mary Magdalene, and Architecture with Peacock and Birds in Flight.
The bulk of the exhibition centres on a further 65 pages of drawings featuring architecture, mythology and biblical scenes by a range of artists from the 13th and 14th century.
Also on display are nine niello pieces, renowned Renaissance metal artworks created by Florentine goldsmiths.
These were made by engraving a metal plate and then filling in the hollows with a black enamel-like compound made of silver, lead and sulphur.
The drawings are all on loan from the Louvre in Paris, part of a much larger collection donated to the museum by French philanthropist and banker Edmond de Rothschild during the 1930s.
The collection of 3,000 drawings and 30,000 engravings has been in the Louvre's possession since then but a great many of the works were anonymous for a long period of time.
It was only after extensive research by the museum's De'partement des Arts Graphiques that an unexpectedly large number of drawings were identified as the work of Italian Renaissance masters.
The exhibition is the result of an agreement between the French body and the Casa Buonarroti Foundation following years of close scientific collaboration.
This is the first exhibition the Louvre has organized in Italy and most of the works are on public display for the first time.
'Drawings from the Louvre: The Italian Renaissance in the Rothschild Collection at the Muse'e du Louvre' is on display at Casa Buonarroti until September 14.