For those eager for cultural content, on Movistar+ you will find a BBC series that will transport you back five hundred years. Renaissance. Art and violence These are three episodes that bear witness to the artistic rivalry between Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael, a competitiveness that led them to create the great works of art that we have later studied at school or seen in museums and in books.
The documentary is woven from three basic elements. On the one hand, expert voices from the world of art and history that provide us with the necessary context to understand the context and the nuances. On the other hand, a historical recreation of the events, with actors who play the three geniuses of painting and a dramatization of the period. Of course, this fictional part is not at the level of a cinematic superproduction. It is a dignified but humble recreation that provides the viewer with the possibility of better understanding the era, spaces and work dynamics of the artists. It also allows us to explain the reasons that motivated some of the great works of art in history, understanding what was the purpose of the patrons who financed them. Michelangelo's words in the script are based on the artist's own writings and attempt to bring rigor to the protagonist. Finally, the documentary series offers very careful images of the works of art: they observe their details and analyze some aspects of technique and representation.
In the first episode, the rise, we discover how Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci strive to find work as artists and begin to develop their careers under the watchful eye of patrons, who quickly capture their talent. The second episode, the rivalry, shows the two artists at their peak, in Florence, and the figure of the young Raphael of Urbino appears as an apprentice to the great masters. In the last episode, the redemption, we witness Michelangelo working in the Sistine Chapel while Raphael paints the private apartments of the pontiff. The work becomes a struggle between one against the other.
The Renaissance was a particularly bloody, conflict-ridden and violent period, and art draws on all of this. The series is an opportunity, especially for the most neophytes, to delve into this historical period and understand that art cannot be separated from the context in which it is created. The political cruelty of the time and the way in which patrons and rulers understood the power that artists and their creations had are explained very well.
The series makes evident the legacy and vision of art critic and historian John Berger, a pioneer at the BBC when it came to disseminating art. Regarding the works of the Renaissance, he prioritized taking into account the importance of history and the power dynamics of that time, because he understood that paintings were not only prints that sought beauty but also had a clear will to propagate. The series, beyond being an informative entertainment, can help to change the way we look at art and to see beyond what the frame contains.
