Exhibition: Drawing the Italian Renaissance

The Renaissance saw a growing appreciation of individual creativity and a dramatic transformation in the way that artists worked. Drawing was at the heart of this development – evolving from a simple tool of workshop practice to an exciting means to explore visual ideas, develop new compositions and study the world around us.

The Royal Collection holds one of the world’s great collections of Italian drawings.

Bringing together around 160 of these works by more than 80 artists, this exhibition explores how drawing became central to every stage of the creative process.

Artists honed their skills by drawing from posed models; detailed head studies allowed a heightened realism and emotional engagement; and drawing was used to prepare works in all media, from paintings and prints to architecture, sculpture, metalwork, tapestry and costume. The exhibition will show how drawing was increasingly considered as an independent art form, while the materials expanded to include metalpoint, pen and ink, chalks and coloured washes, on all kinds of papers.

The works on display will differ vastly in subject, ranging from sacred compositions such as Michelangelo's Virgin and Child with the Young St John and Raphael's first design for his Disputa fresco, to secular decoration and designs for metalwork, including a table fountain by Leonardo da Vinci. Vigorous studies of heads and figures, such as the chalk nudes by Ludovico Carracci, and of landscapes, plants and animals, including Parmigianino’s sympathetic Studies of Dogs, show artists’ search for realism and an understanding of the natural world.

Major works by lesser-known artists – including many works never before exhibited in the UK for conservation reasons – will reveal the variety and richness of the medium, such as Polidoro da Caravaggio’s powerful Head of St Thomas or Paolo Farinati’s study for a fresco of three mythological figures.