'Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael - About 1500' at the National Gallery

I was in the National gallery today so popped along to Room 20 to see the new mini-exhibition in one room, 'Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael - About 1500'. It's an opportunity for the National Gallery to show off it's collection of the triumvirate of masters of the High Renaissance and their works from around 1500 when they were all working. All the works on display are in the National Gallery's collection (other that the 'Taddei Tondo' which is on loan from the Royal Academy round the corner) so I've seen them all before (many times) but it's great to see them together.

Between both doors to Room 20 is Raphael's large 'Ansidei Madonna' with John the Baptist and Nicholas of Bari. I've never quite understood why the Virgin has to climb those steps to get to the throne - they look a bit steep to me, especially in a long frock. Nicholas is reading a bible while Mary seems to be reading to the Child. St John is gazing up at the cross he's holding and pointing to the Child in a rather obvious gesture showing the destiny of the baby in Mary's lap. It has Raphael's trademarked high-gloss finish without a brush-stroke in sight.

Also on show by Raphael are the 'Madonna of the Pinks' and 'Saint Catherine of Alexandria'.

The exhibition then moves on to Michelangelo and two paintings that shown in the recent exhibition about Michelangelo and Sebastiano, also a High Renaissance painter. Both 'The Entombment' and 'The Manchester Madonna' are on show and here's the Madonna. Both paintings are unfinished but I prefer the Madonna because of the two angels to the left where one has his arm round the other and hand resting on his shoulder - this always makes me think of David Bowie and Mick Ronson on 'Top of the Pops' in 1972 playing 'Starman'. I can't help it.

As ever, it's the detail you need to see and, in this painting, we see the Child reaching out for his mother's book without a care in the world while the babe St John, already clad in animal skins, looks off into the middle distance. He doesn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, perhaps he's just experiencing a passing moment of sadness since he sees his cousin's destiny.

Opposite the two Michelangelo paintings are two by Leonardo, 'The Virgin of the Rocks' and 'The Burlington House Cartoon'. There's a version of the 'Virgin of the Rocks' in the Louvre since Leonardo painted two very similar versions because he wasn't satisfied with the first version. I've never worked out why the Virgin is in a cave but that's Leonardo's business, not mine, and he was a lot cleverer than me (and had a bushier beard).

The light source comes from the left of the painting and uses Leonardo's pyramidal structure. There are strange plants flowering in the foreground and a distant sea peaking between the rocks of the cavern. What a strange landscape in which to place the holy family.

The final artwork on show is the 'Taddei Tondo' on the wall between the Michelangelo and Leonardo paintings, and opposite the Raphael altarpiece. The Tondo is on loan from the Royal Academy and is, I think, the only Michelangelo sculpture in this country. It's rather lovely.

The jury's out on whether the piece is actually finished or not, given how rough some of the parts are, but the baby Jesus seems to be complete and, let's face it, he's the main character in any Christian painting or other artwork. My eyes kept going to the hand of the baby John the Baptist who is holding a goldfinch out towards his cousin, a symbol of suffering. The Child is flinching away from it while acknowledging his destiny. It's the skill of Michelangelo that's wonderful here since he defines the trapped bird with just a few chisel strokes but beak and feathers are clearly there if you look closely. It's a wonderfully simple piece of carving.

It's lovely to see the works of these three masters together, with both Michelangelo and Raphael learning from Leonardo. If I was in charge of the National Gallery I think I'd show them off too. They're all in one room for a change so pop along and enjoy them while you can.

I have seen the tombs of all three masters. Michelangelo's huge tomb in Santa Croce in Florence that I suspect he'd hate, Raphael's modest plaque in the Pantheon in Rome and Leonardo who was buried in a chapel at Chateau d'Amboise in the Loire Valley in France. I've only seen the chateau from a  distance but I'd like to visit one day.