Royal Academy, London
The battle scenes at the centre of this somewhat academic exhibition ring with unforgettable violence – as Leonardo’s howling warrior prepares to sever an enemy’s hand

‘Art is a serious subject,” say posters put up by the Royal Academy in London to champion art in schools. But is the Royal Academy itself serious? Its main galleries are now full of vacant paintings by Michael Craig-Martin, RA, while three of the greatest artists who ever lived are crammed into a couple of rooms round the back.

Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael: Florence, c 1504 is based on the rivalrous encounter between Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo when both were commissioned to paint battle scenes by the Florentine republic. First, Leonardo was tasked to paint a mural of The Battle of Anghiari, in which Florence had defeated Milanese mercenaries. As Leonardo planned it, Michelangelo was commissioned to paint another battle on the same wall.