An unusual new exhibition here contrasts the art of controversial 20th-century photographer Robert Mapplethorpe with that of Renaissance master Michelangelo Buonarroti in a celebration of the human form.
The exhibition sets 93 photographs by Mapplethorpe against the prestigious backdrop of Florence's Galleria dell'Accademia. In total, 111 artworks are displayed as part of the show.
The Michelangelo pieces include the museum's star attraction, his original David sculpture, as well as four drawings, a wax model and his Four Prisoners.
The exhibition, timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Mapplethorpe's death at age 43, features images taken throughout the New York photographer's career.
Divided into four sections, the exhibit starts with a direct comparison of difference: between photography and sculpture, and between 20th-century New York and Renaissance Florence.
But it also draws out the similarities between the two artists: the search for balance, accuracy and clarity, and efforts to successfully convey the perfection of male beauty.
''Mapplethorpe appreciated contemporary art but his true passion was for the works of great masters, particularly sculpture,'' said Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation President Michael Ward Stout.
''Through his photography, he tried to capture the particular form of perfection that he perceived in the work of Michelangelo and other Renaissance masters''.
Organizers also highlighted Mapplethorpe's love of sculpture. Speaking shortly before his death, he once said that had he born 200 years ago, he believed he would have been a sculptor.
''But photography is a quicker way of seeing things, of creating sculpture,'' he explained.
Mapplethorpe's photographs, like Michelangelo's sculpture, are renowned for their fascination with an idealized version of the male form.
The exhibition features many of his highly stylised black and white portraits of nude men, which used light and shadow to sculpt taut skin and muscled limbs and torsos.
But as well as his portraits, the exhibition also features a number of Mapplethorpe's still lifes.
He was particularly entranced by flowers, and spent hours in his studio creating the perfect lighting to capture his delicate arrangements of irises, tulips and lilies.
Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, Mapplethorpe's brother Edward expressed his delight at the event.
''Displaying these works side-by-side is deeply moving, while the silence, beauty and arrangement are striking,'' he said.
The exhibition will run for four months but depending on its success, Ward Stout said it was possible the foundation would leave one of Mapplethorpe's images there as a permanent tribute.
'Robert Mapplethorpe. La Perfezione Nella Forma' (Perfection In Form) runs at the Galleria dell'Accademia until September 27.
