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.
