The College of Arts and Sciences

That's Italian: Gary Radke '73 brings Renaissance art to life

Feb 8, 2010 1:00 PM

Article by: Rob Enslin and Jay Cox

Every scholar dreams of his “Eureka” moment. Gary Radke ’73 had his three years ago in London.

The noted Renaissance art scholar was there culling items for an upcoming Leonardo da Vinci show at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta when he noticed a silverpoint drawing of a warrior. “It was just a miracle of representation,” admits Radke, who doubles as Dean’s Professor for the Humanities and guest curator at The High. Two days later in Florence, he had an epiphany of sorts when he saw “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist,” a silver altarpiece attributed to Leonardo’s mentor, Andrea del Verrocchio. “I thought, ‘Wait a minute, that figure looks like the one I saw in London,” says Radke, editor of “Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture” (The High Museum of Art and Yale University Press, 2009). “I became convinced that Leonardo had helped create this relief. The youth at the left and the turbaned officer second from the right were just too detailed and expressive to be by Verrocchio.”

The discovery of the two figures was the latest in a series of coups that Radke has staged for The High since 2001. Others include shows devoted to Michelangelo, Verrocchio’s “David” statue, and Ghiberti’s “Gates of Paradise.” Radke says that the increasing privatization of Italian cultural institutions, combined with spectacular restorations of Renaissance art, makes for good theater. “We are now at a special time in history when unprecedented exhibitions are taking place,” opines Radke, whose métier is 15th-century Florentine sculpture. Each of his projects has broken attendance records, while drawing extensive coverage from The New York Times, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNN.com.

In 2010, Radke moves a version of his Leonardo show to the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. As with most projects, he edits the companion catalog; helps produce the wall text, labels, and audio tours; and gives many public lectures and presentations. Upcoming projects include studies of the 15th-century renovation of the convent of Santa Croce alla Giudecca in Venice and a graduate seminar on the representation and patronage of women in Renaissance Venice.

A renowned teacher and researcher, Radke hopes to get students to see the visual power of art—“how it can communicate emotions and ideas with a sense of timelessness,” he adds. “Once that happens, a whole new world opens up to them.”