Raphael: The Drawings, a wonderful exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (until September 3), is the first opportunity in Britain to see the primacy of Raphael as a draughtsman since the memorable exhibition held in 1983 at the British Museum. That was organised by John A Gere and Nicholas Turner, and showed drawings from British collections alone, revealing the almost embarrassing wealth of his works in this country.
Some drawings by Raphael have since left Britain, but the lion’s share is still in the UK. Many of them were formerly from the collection of the painter Sir Thomas Lawrence. The exhibition’s team, led by Catherine Whistler, has chosen particularly telling examples from his work outside of the 50 drawings from Oxford, from the Queen, the British Museum, Christ Church, the Louvre, Lille, Frankfurt, Haarlem, Budapest and a private collection in the United States. The exhibition is not to be missed as it gives us a unique opportunity to see, to study and to marvel at Raphael’s path to perfection.
The exhibition has a section on techniques and materials which is very helpful in explaining how these drawings were made. Most useful is the essay in the excellent catalogue by Angelamaria Aceto, “Raphael’s Materials and Techniques”, which observers would find helpful to read before visiting the exhibition.
Detailed photographs help explain the subtlety of the use of the “blind stylus”. This was a technique Raphael employed throughout his life. The artist first used the stylus to make indicative traces of the composition on paper which he could either develop or ignore.
It is sensible, because of the necessary low light levels, to accustom your eye to the subtleties of metal point to be sure to know what you are looking at and for. A particular example, hard to decipher, but very beautiful, is the metal point on pink prepared paper of Ajax and Cassandra, which was recently allocated to the British Museum in lieu of tax. This is clearly dependent in its composition on a classical prototype, and Raphael has managed brilliantly to evoke the impression of classical sculpture, not unlike the metopes of the Parthenon marbles.
Raphael is particularly well known for his religious work and in his early career was at his most inventive when describing compositions on the themes of the Madonna and Child with or without the Infant John. Initially influenced by Perugino, his facial types have a sweet oval angularity and appear demure in both his paintings and his drawings.
After he established himself in Florence, Raphael painted with increasing complexity, reducing the purity and gentleness of his earliest work to show a greater engagement between mother and child. The finished drawing in black chalk for the Virgin of the pomegranate in the Albertina in Vienna is an exceptional example.
A group of drawings in pen and ink, culminating in studies for the Madonna of the Meadow show his invention and the development of a sense of intimacy between the grouping of figures. It is in this period that he comes closest to Leonardo, particularly in a quickly drawn study in Vienna of the Madonna seated on the ground reading, while the Child stretches towards her book. This has a complicated twisting movement which owes a lot to Leonardo, as do two superb drapery studies for figures in the Disputa.
Once settled in Rome, Raphael had increasing and multiple projects, each more ambitious than its predecessor. He seems to have relished the complex studies for The Massacre of the Innocents. The red-chalk drawing from Windsor is outstanding. Raphael leaves huge blanks in the composition, probably in an attempt to get the rhythm of the figures at the edge of the drawing accurate. His individual figures become larger in scale and his facility in defining both musculature and movement in any medium is extraordinary.
It is difficult to be certain of the attribution of some of his later drawings, when he had so many assistants of great talent working with him, but coming out of this stupendous exhibition one asks oneself: does it really matter?
The vigour and the invention, the characterisation and the realism culminate in the exceptional head and hands of two Apostles for the Transfiguration, quite simply one of the most beautiful drawings that exists.
Raphael died at the height of his career – his drawings are among the most beautiful of all Renaissance achievements. There is unlikely to be another exhibition of Raphael’s drawings, one that marks his whole career with masterpieces in our time – and having seen it, I would urge you afterwards to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the cartoons for the tapestries in the Sistine Chapel on loan from the Royal Collection. These are supreme masterpieces which remain largely unvisited.
David Scrase is honorary keeper of Italian drawings at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.