SHAPING THE HUMAN BODY: FLORENTINE SCULPTURE OF THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE

The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) presents Shaping the Human Body: Florentine Sculpture of the Italian Renaissance from May 18 to August 12, 2018. The exhibition highlights ten Italian sculptures that exemplify stylistic developments in the visual arts from the 14th to the 16th century. These masterpieces are drawn from two private collections, documenting the important and fully realised stylistic features of Gothic art and architecture in Lombardia—where the Cathedral of Milan stands as a celebrated monument of the time period and style—and tracing the beginnings and highly significant development of the Renaissance style in Tuscany. The individual pieces include works by Florentine master sculptors such as Pacio Bertini, Francesco di Valdambrino, Donatello and members of the Della Robbia family.

The sculptures beautifully illustrate both how the artistic representation of the human body transformed during this time period and how the scientific study of the body and the ambition to depict more life-like portraits influenced the arts. This development coincided with the establishment of academic institutions and the formalisation of scientific and artistic training.

The objects in this exhibition further display the breadth of artistic materials, including stone, wood and ceramic, each employed and mastered during this vital era in the creation of religious and secular iconography.