Exhibition: Raphael Up Close
Andrew Butterfield writes: ‘“Raphael: The Drawings,†on view at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, until September 3, provides a rare chance to see up close a wide array of the artist’s works from throughout his life, and the effect is thrilling and revelatory. Bringing together 120 sheets, almost one-quarter of his extant drawings, it is the largest assembly of the artist’s works in one place since the unforgettable show of his drawings at the British Museum in 1983. Not only can you see here his astonishing virtuosity in handling
every Renaissance drawing technique, from metal point to pen and ink and black and red chalk; more importantly, you can watch him work with fierce concentration and explosive creativity as he seeks to design his compositions and capture the actions and emotions of the figures he portrays.’
