The Renaissance Nude

This exhibition, which took place at the J. Paul Getty Center, Los Angeles (30/10/18-27/1/19) and the Royal Academy in London (3/3/19-2/6/19) is the first major exhibition to focus on the inception of the artistic nude. It shows how the nude form, far from being merely a reaction to classical revival, grew simultaneously in different European centres and was as much related to new ideas about Christianity and the body as antique ideals. Containing more than 100 objects, including manuscripts, sculpture, drawings and paintings, it includes works by artists such as Donatello, Dürer, Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci and aims to revolutionise our understanding of the inception of the nude - a central part of western art training for the subsequent 500 years.