Mantegna to Matisse

Five hundred years of drawing are represented by 60 works in Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery on exhibition in London from 14 June until 9 September 2012. From quick, observed sketches, through studies to fully resolved drawings intended as works in their own right, here is a wonderful opportunity to see how Artists of the western tradition have used drawing over the centuries to explore their subjects. There is always something intimate about the medium, whereby I look at a drawing from the same kind of distance as the Artist did, and feel that I am almost standing in his shoes. The raw, unfinished state of sketches allows you some insight into the Artist's focus at a  moment in time. So each drawing is always exciting in what it reveals about their process. And this exhibition of Artists from Leonardi Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Durer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Ingres, Canaletto, Turner, Cezanne, Degas, Picasso and many others, did not disappoint. Truly an embarrassment of riches!

Here are a few of my personal favourites:-

Seurat - Female Nude

"Very sculptural and just so sensual"

Pontormo - Seated Youth

"Fresh and contemporary - lovely quality of line"

Rembrandt - Saskia sitting up in bed, holding a child

"A moment captured"

Leonardo da Vinci - Study for Saint Mary Magdalene

"The great man thinking, through his drawing"

Van Gogh - A Tile Factory

"Very singular mark making"

Toulouse Lautrec - Au Lit

"Love the focus on the face. Most touching."

I could go on but I might spoil the many surprises to be found when you visit. The exhibition is beautifully hung, as you would expect at the Courtauld, one I can heartily recommend. A very nice tea-room too!

At the Feet of the Master

When in London I often visit the top floor of the Royal Academy just to see the Taddei Tondo, a four feet diameter circular marble relief by Michelangelo, the only piece of his sculpture in the UK. Missed by many visitors to the temporary exhibitions at the RA it is beautifully lit in a recess at the end of the Sackler Wing, furthest from the lift. I feel so privileged to be able to study the sculpture at such close quarters and generally quite uninterrupted, save for the lost souls looking for somewhere where they can furtively use their mobile phones.

Like many of Michelangelo's works the Taddei Tondo is unfinished and the tool marks reveal much about how he was approaching the piece, a bit like being able to see the underdrawing of a great painting. You can see where he is still roughing out with the point, modelling the forms with the claw and then refining the forms of the finished passages as was his working method. I always come away reinvigorated, inspired by Michelangelo’s energy, ambition and craftmanship and return to my studio the next day, eager to pick up my tools and address the block of stone on the carving stand.

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