INTERVIEW: New ‘Renaissance’ series on PBS focuses on three artists
Photo: Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty details the lives of three artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, portrayed here by Jonny Glynn. Photo courtesy of Marcell Piti / BBC Studios / Provided by press site with permission.
The new PBS series Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty premieres tonight, July 8, at 9 p.m., with future episodes set for July 15 and July 22. The summer TV event, which is produced by BBC Studios, focuses on three artists during the tumultuous time of the Renaissance — three men who are known by singular names: Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael.
“I am pretty much a staff exec, so I am given projects to work on,” said Alexander Leith, executive producer of the series. “And this came to me as a brilliant arts commission, and by serendipity, my degree was in art history. So I studied this period in some detail myself.”
Leith finds the stories of these three artists and the world they helped to change such an enduring story that is perfect for television and streaming.
“I mean, it’s … a brilliant story at its heart, but I think what most intrigued the commissioners is this idea of how in this quite condensed period in Italian history and condensed area of time and [geography] produced some of the greatest and most enduring works of art in western civilization,” Leith said. “I think we’re looking at how and why that happened and the forces that play there. It was the key driver.”
The executive producer admitted that almost everyone in the audience will know Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael before starting this journey into the 1400-1500s, and most of these people are familiar with some of the most famous works from each painter. But it was up to Leith and his team to fill in the blanks and offer much-needed context.
“I think what’s so great about unpacking it in this way is that you look at the artwork in an entirely different way if you understand the circumstances of their creation and the world out of which they grew,” he said. “I think most people think of the Renaissance in quite pleasant terms, quite light and people painting and making great art, and everything’s lovely. And actually it was quite the opposite. These works came out of a period of profound upheaval, bloodshed, tumult, one of the bloodiest and most violent periods in history.”
The timeline for the series begins in 1478 with the so-called Pazzi Conspiracy and ends in 1541 with the unveiling of “The Last Judgment” by Michelangelo, according to press notes. Leith said he was intrigued by the Pazzi Conspiracy as the starting-off point.
“What’s great about the Pazzi Conspiracy is it sets up the world,” he said. “But what was great about the period we looked at is that it had to span the period of time when all three artists were alive and active. … The hanging of the Pazzi conspirators taking place is sort of where we start the story. Michelangelo is there. He’s taken by his father as a small child and remembers seeing it. It’s not actually in the film in the end, but Leonardo was also in the square that day. And there’s a sketch that he did of the hanging Pazzi conspirator, so that is the first point of contact and meaningful jumping-off point for Michelangelo and his baptism into that world more generally.”
Leith added: “And I think ‘The Last Judgment’ felt like a very obvious end point because I think by that stage Raphael and Leonardo are both dead. Michelangelo has attained a degree of autonomy from the patrons that have been dictating his art and his life up until now, and he had been buffeted by tremendous upheaval and personal tragedy and difficulty over the years. It feels like a slightly cathartic work. It feels like there’s a lot to say about ‘The Last Judgment.’ It feels like a very obvious place to end the story.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty premieres tonight, July 8, at 9 p.m. on PBS. Click here for more information.
