Money, patronage, rivalry and passions are at the heart of the new show at the National Gallery which explores the friendship between Michelangelo and Sebastiano del Piombo. Arriving in Rome in 1511, the Venetian met the master of the Sistine Chapel and, it is said, experienced a ‘nuclear explosion’ on seeing the work. The exhibition contains some hilarious letters between the men, in several of which Piombo begs for help finding work. Piombo was a talented painter in oils and while Michelangelo disliked the medium, he saw Piombo’s skill as a means of sidelining his arch rival, Raphael. The relationship ended acrimoniously but not before they had collaborated on some extraordinary works shown here. These include ‘The Lamentation over the Dead Christ’, the first large-scale nocturnal landscape in history and ‘The Raising of Lazarus’ which has the honour of carrying the very first inventory number (NG1) after the National Gallery Collection was formed in 1824.
Sebastiano del Piombo Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 1516
Until June 25th at the National Gallery, London, UK
