Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery

Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Kermesse at Hoboken, 1559

© The Courtauld Gallery, London

One of the most ambitious exhibitions of graphic art that the Courtauld has mounted in decades, this show will explore the primacy of drawing in training and practice across more than five hundred years of European art. Some of the drawings on display are fully finished pieces in their own right, while others provide glimpses into the spontaneous, preparatory stages of the creative process.

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The exhibition includes works by Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Canaletto and da Vinci. By focusing exclusively on works on paper, the exhibition will provide a unique survey of draughtsmanship in a variety of forms and styles. Highlights include Michelangelo's sophisticated allegory The Dream and an intimate portrait made by Rembrandt of his wife Saskia. Virtuoso sketches by artists like Guercino, whose drawings have come to be more highly regarded than his finished paintings, are also of particular note.