PARIS - An exceptional artistic journey for the exhibition that opens on October 22 at the Louvre in the Napoleon Hall with the emblematic title "The Body and the Soul", from Donatello to Michelangelo, with 140 Italian Renaissance sculptures, exhibition organized with the museum of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan on the masterpieces of the second half of the 15th century, with the flowering of the representation of the human figure in its maximum splendor.
From Florence to Venice to Rome, the shapes and movements of the body conquer the center of interest of some of the greatest artists in history, starting with Michelangelo.
But in the exhibition at the Louvre, less famous artists are discovered and works that are not always accessible due to their usual location, in churches, small municipalities or museum reserves, are found together.
The Body and the Soul is the "second episode" of the exhibition that the Louvre proposed in 2013 together with Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, consecrated to the dawn of Renaissance art in Florence in the first half of the fifteenth century.
The exhibition is divided into three parts: "The fury and the grace", with works that translate the strength and exasperation of movements inspired by ancient models.
The works of Antonio del Pollaiolo or Francesco di Giorgio Martini follow one another.
In the same section, but as a counterpoint, elegant draperies can be admired that envelop above all female bodies, highlighting - this time - the grace of the naked body.
This is followed by the section "Emotion and Convince", which highlights the desire to strongly touch the soul of the spectator in sacred representations.
With Donatello's work, the emotion and the movements of the soul conquer a key place in art and the moving figures of Mary Magdalene or St. Jerome flourish in many Italian cities with their search for religious pathos.
Finally, From Dionysus to Apollo, we move on to the relentless reflection on classical antiquity in works such as the Spinario or Laocoonte: parallel to the sweet style of Perugino or the young Raphael, a new harmony is also developed in sculpture that transcends gestures and feelings more extreme.
Star of the exhibition, Michelangelo whose unattainable inspiration combined with unparalleled technique lead to the arrival point of the classicism of the beginning of the 16th century with Lo Schiavo Morente, to then arrive at the inverse to the ascending dynamic of the human being, which turns the gaze towards the divine world in the athletic figure of Lo Schiavo Ribelle.
The exhibition will remain open to the public in the Louvre until January 18, 2021. From March 5 to June 6, it will then be visible at the Castello Sforzesco Museum in Milan.