In 2019 Florence devoted a major exhibition to Andrea del Verrocchio at Palazzo Strozzi, with a special section at the Bargello National Museum. The exhibition offered an opportunity to reconsider one of the protagonists of the Renaissance and the decisive role of his workshop in the training of a new generation of artists.
Verrocchio and Renaissance Florence
A sculptor, painter and goldsmith, Verrocchio worked for some of the leading patrons of Medici Florence. His workshop was a place of experimentation where different techniques and artistic languages met, encouraging a constant dialogue between drawing, painting and sculpture.
The exhibition reconstructed this environment by placing works by the master alongside those of artists who trained with him or developed his legacy.
Leonardo’s master
Verrocchio’s name is particularly associated with Leonardo da Vinci. The young Leonardo trained in his workshop, and comparing the two helps us understand the extraordinary richness of that Florentine environment. Yet describing Verrocchio only as “Leonardo’s master” would be reductive: the 2019 exhibition also restored his independent and central place in Renaissance art.
Palazzo Strozzi and the Bargello
The exhibition ran from 9 March to 14 July 2019 at Palazzo Strozzi and included a special section at the Bargello National Museum. It was curated by Francesco Caglioti and Andrea De Marchi.
This page remains online as an archive of a past exhibition and as an introduction to an artist who is essential to understanding fifteenth-century Florence.
