‘Unique opportunity’ to see Italian Renaissance drawings in London

About 160 works from more than 80 artists including Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Leonardo da Vinci are to go on display in what has been described as the widest-ranging exhibition of Italian Renaissance drawings to be staged in the UK.

Taken from the royal collection, the exhibition, which opens at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace in November, will feature more than 30 works on display for the first time, and a further 12 never previously shown in the UK.

Many were created by the artists as preparations for projects including paintings, prints and sculptures, with one highlight a red chalk working by Raphael of The Three Graces, circa 1517-18, which is a study of one model in three poses made for his fresco The Wedding Feast of Cupid and Psyche in the Villa Farnesina, Rome.

Other notable works include a chalk study of an ostrich, circa 1550, attributed to Titian, and Michelangelo’s The Virgin and Child With the Young Baptist , circa 1532.

Martin Clayton, the exhibition curator, said: ‘The royal collection holds an astonishing array of Renaissance drawings. These big, bold and colourful studies show just how exciting the art of drawing became during this time.

“The Italian Renaissance would have been impossible without drawing – it was central to every stage of the creative process. These drawings cannot be on permanent display for conservation reasons, so the exhibition is a unique opportunity to see such a wide range of drawings up close and gain an insight into the minds of these great Italian Renaissance artists.”

Fra Angelico’s detailed head study, The Bust of a Cleric , circa 1447-50, thought to have been done in preparation for his frescoes in the chapel of Pope Nicholas V in the Vatican, is the earliest sheet on display and said to be a rare surviving drawing by the great Florentine painter.

Titian’s Ostrich has never previously been on display in the UK, with the chalk work indicating he had seen a live ostrich in Venice, Italy’s main port for trade with the eastern and southern Mediterranean, from where the bird could have been imported as an exotic curiosity.

One striking work is A Costume Study for a Masque, by Leonardo da Vinci, circa 1517-18. Leonardo spent the last years of his life at the French court and designed fantastical costumes for the festivities held by the French king, Francis I. “In this extravagant study, he demonstrates his abilities through the rich layering of fabrics, including ribbons, scalloping, plumes, spotted furs, and quilted sleeves and breeches,” the royal collection said.

Works by lesser-known artists include Paolo Farinati’s circa 1590 study of three mythological figures under an arch, on which the artist inscribed instructions to his assistants: “You may do it as you fancy when you are on the scaffolding.”

Arranged thematically, the exhibition explores life drawing, studies of plants and animals, designs for the applied arts, sacred compositions and secular decorations,

• Drawing the Italian Renaissance is at the King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, 1 November to 9 March. www.rct.uk