Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty

The renaissance produced remarkable art at a time of political and religous turmoil; as a subject for a documentary, it might be thought to offer a target impossible to miss. But this series only strikes a glancing blow, with clumsy reconstructions alternating with talking heads who seem universally keener to play amateur psychologist than to demonstrate their actual expertise. There's so much that could be shown, but the programme prefers to tell, and to tell us about things that can't be known for certain but which our own imaginations might guess at anyway. The focus is on Michelangelo in particular, and I did learn something about him and his work, but there's a high ratio of filler to fact.

The BBC almost at its best. I saw the other review that said the show didn't go deep enough but that wasn't the shows goal.

Instead it gives an introduction to the Renaissance to those that are not familiar with it and also does a sublime job of explaining the power of art, literally. In addition it explains the intense competition between DeVinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

I also finally learned why so much Italian art is in the Louvre in Paris. I really enjoyed this show. Charles Dance is also cracking in it. In fact I have watched it three times.

So what is the issue? Episode 1 includes "the message", the DEI/ESG section. It doesn't lost too long thankfully. But it wasn't necessary and I do wish it would stop. Apart from that it's super.

I dream of more shows like this about artists from the past! The mix of acting and "Discovery style" Professors chiming in with bits of knowledge is such a fun process and makes learning so entertaining! I actually didn't know that DaVinci and Michaelangelo knew each other, let alone were rivals. As, well seeing Charles Dance involved in such a real world history project like this just adds more validity to it all. But also the other actors were excellent, especially the younger Michaelangelo too. I also didn't realize that Florence and Italy itself had such divided states and how art helped influence the public on their control and power. We need more of this type of enterainment. Please watch and support people!