Seven of the greatest rivalries in art history

Born just a year apart (Turner in 1775 in soot-soaked London, Constable in 1776 in a sleepy village in Suffolk), the two were from the start the opposite of “fire and water,” as another critic put it in 1831. Turner, whose father was a barber, began studying art at the age of just 14, while Constable, born into a wealthy corn merchant family, did not begin painting until his 20s. Their vastly different temperaments and outlooks on life not only influenced their respective styles, but were a constant source of fascination for critics, who never tired of pitting them against each other. to 1 anonymous reviewer In the London Magazine in 1829, Constable was “all truth” while Turner was “all poetry”. “One is silver,” he concluded, “the other is gold.”

Needless to say, no competitor dreams of taking home a silver medal. But what does it take to get to the top? From the big fight between Leonardo and Michelangelo in the early 16th century to the famous fight between Van Gogh and Gauguin near the end of the 19th century, a look back at some of the greatest rivalries in art history provides useful tips on how to handle yourself when facing off against talented competitors. Here are five maxims for mastering the art of competition.

1. Da Vinci vs. Michelangelo: Feud is fuel

Legend has it that one of the sharpest episodes of trash talk between artistic rivals occurred on the streets of Florence around 1503, when Leonardo overheard a group of men discussing Dante’s elusive lines. Praising Leonardo, a famous painter and polymath, the men begged him to explain this difficult text. Just then, Leonardo noticed that Michelangelo was also passing by, and he turned and said to the group, “He will explain it to you.” I feel like I’m being ridiculed, Michelangelo also fought back.“Explain yourself, you horse model maker who abandoned his job in shame,” he sneered at Leonardo, who had infamously failed to complete a statue of a horse many years earlier.

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As fate would have it, the two rival artists are soon commissioned to create competing battle scenes on opposite walls of the same room in Palazzo Vecchio. This confrontation will forever remain unresolved, as the fresco was never completed. But from the surviving copies of fragmentary studies of Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari and Michelangelo’s Battle of Cassina, there is little doubt that the feud focused and stimulated the muscles and minds of the two men.