Painting exhibition in London focuses on Renaissance architecture

An exhibition on the importance of architecture in Renaissance painting opened Wednesday at the National Gallery (NG) in London. The exhibition, called "Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting," features Italian Renaissance masterpieces from the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period in which the NG has a strong collection of paintings. Caroline Campbell, exhibition curator, told Xinhua Wednesday, "We wanted to bring the architectural details of paintings to the foreground. People always look at paintings looking at the figures in the foreground and they think the figures are the only way the architect tells the story and that the architecture and landscape are insignificant." Campbell said the exhibition focused on the Italian Renaissance because it was a period where there was "incredible fluidity" between art practitioners and art forms. "There was no distinct training for being an architect; you learnt to draw in the same way painters or sculptors did. Artists were quite happy designing buildings as well as painting or sculpting," she added. It was only in the last 150 years that a rigid delineation between artists and architects had taken place, said Campbell. The show also includes significant works of Sebastiano del Piombo and Andrea del Verrocchio. Campbell said the exhibition was breaking new ground for the NG by having an extensive and free online catalogue. Campbell said, "This is a first for the National Gallery. We have also commissioned a series of five short films. We intended, from early on in the planning for the exhibition, to put the catalogue online." The exhibition runs until September 21.