Old museum in Britain displays master drawings
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E-mail Xinhua, May 25, 2013
An Elderly Woman with Clasped Hands was the only drawing by Grunewald that bore a signature. Recognized as maybe the Virgin or Magdalen, the woman who seemed to have lost a son or a companion put her palms together in sorrow.
"Compared with Italian paintings, it showed deeply human idea and realism," explained the curator.
The works of Michelangelo Buonarroti was highlighted by the red-chalk studies for the Sistine Ceiling. He defined the musculature and the effects of light and shade as the boy turned and held a scroll under his arms. But the artist didn't concern with his hair or details of drapery.
In comparison, two other drawings seemed more complete.
"In the 15th century drawings were not considered as art, but after Michelangelo and Da Vinci, anything from the masters became collectable," Whiteley said. This pair, one is a head in profile and another the legendary Samson and Delilah, didn't need to be drawn so delicately if they were only used for preparatory purpose.
Titian didn't usually do drawings, but the work he was commissioned in the Palazzo Ducale at Venice was such a complicated one that he resorted to chalk and paper first. He sketched roughly, but the energetic movement was captured vividly when a horse fell to the ground and its rider strained to ward off an attack.
Raphael's A Kneeling Youth was made in preparation for the Mond Crucifixion. On the picture, the kneeling figure looked upwards, hands raised in awe, but in everyday dress. He was believed to be a studio assistant.
His other drawings reflected the influence of Da Vinci and Michelangelo on him. For instance, The Madonna and Child with the Young St John the Baptist showed strong pyramidical form that echoed Da Vinci, while studies of two apostles for the Transfiguration conveyed a sculptural feeling like works of Michelangelo.
The latter was made perhaps a few days before death of the artist. "It was finished during the later process and he corrected some minor drawbacks," Whiteley said. He made the young man's head squarer, and changed the thumbs of St. Peter.
The curator also talked about drawings of other painters: Peter Paul Rubens brought what he learnt from Italian art to North Europe, and muscle of his figures showed obvious influence of Michelangelo; Rembrandt van Rijn was a painter who viewed drawing a necessity, and left drawings which might be his father and wife during their last years; William Turner's drawing style changed a lot, from accurate topographical work to evanescent and atmospheric.
"I hope that this exhibition will encourage the public to discover more about our collections and about the enchantment of drawing," Brown concluded.
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