Drawing the Italian Renaissance

at the King's Gallery, Buckingham Palace 

until 9 March 2025 

Billed as presenting 'the widest range of drawings from this revolutionary artistic period ever to be shown in the UK', this exhibition, just a selection from the astonishing wealth of the Royal Collection, is in itself truly breath-taking. 

The works on show date from two centuries, and cover the full length and breadth of the Italian peninsular, making it impossible to lay out 'a history of drawing': each city had its own story (if not several). As a result the drawings are arranged thematically, with categories including the human body, the face, nature, interior decoration and faith - among others. 

I will look at each category in turn, choosing the images which I think are most remarkable, and which - as often or not - are not by the names you might expect. Inevitably it will be hard to avoid Michelangelo, Leonardo and Raphael, and usually I wouldn't want to - but they've had quite a lot of airtime recently, so I shall look further afield. For now I will just say that there will be works by Bellini, Titian, Fra Angelico, Filippino Lippi and Parmigianino (soon to have his day at the National Gallery) among many others.  Expect some truly stunning drawings, in a wide range of materials, showing all sorts of unexpected subjects.