Master Drawings

Rembrandt van Rijn, Head Study of an Old Man

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

To mark the 330 anniversary of the Ashmoleon Museum in Oxford, the gallery is staging a Master Drawings exhibition that will feature sketches taken from the museum’s own collection. It runs the gamut of Western art from Renaissance masters Michelangelo, Raphael and Leonardo Da Vinci to Victorian painter Gwen John and 1960s Pop art painter David Hockney.

This exhibition offers audiences the chance to study fine preparatory sketches and studies for some of the greatest works in the world, and shed light on the creative workings of the artist’s mind.

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One of the highlights of this beautiful exhibition is a study for the Sistine Chapel made by Michelangelo as a young painter. It reveals a precocious talent for draughtsmanship and a keen understanding of the human form.

Also on show are several sketches by the Renaissance master Raphael, but in particular an exquisite drawing of the heads of two apostles made shortly before his death in 1520. The intensity of their expressions, both compassionate and fearful, makes for compelling viewing.