160 Italian Renaissance drawings at Buckingham Palace

Around 160 drawings by more than 80 Italian Renaissance masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, along with lesser-known artists, all from the Royal Collection, will be on display at Buckingham Palace in London, the official residence of the English royals, from Friday 1 November to Sunday 9 March 2025.

The exhibition of works on paper in the King’s Gallery will also include 12 drawings previously unseen in the UK, including a study of an ostrich in chalk from around 1550 attributed to Titian. “Drawing the Italian Renaissance”, this is the title of the exhibition, includes works ranging from 1450 to 1600 from the Royal Collection, which has one of the largest collections of Italian Renaissance drawings in the world.

Notably, the Titian study has previously only been exhibited at the Dutch Institute in Florence in 1976. “Although the attribution to Titian has occasionally been questioned over the past 50 years, our curators at the Royal Collection Trust are confident that the technique of black chalk on blue paper seen in this study is characteristic of the artist; although other Venetian artists such as Tintoretto used the same technique, the looseness of the outlines and especially the tilted close-up perspective are typical of Titian’s mature works and of no one else “a spokesperson for the Royal Collection said in a statement.

Other major works on display include Raphael’s red chalk “The Three Graces” (c. 1517-18) – a study of a model in three poses created for the “Marriage of Cupid and Psyche” fresco in the Villa Farnesina – and “A Study of Costume for a Masque” by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1517-18), a sketch of a fantastic costume designed for the French King Francis I. Thematic sections will examine topics such as humans’ understanding of the natural world artists and the development of life drawing.

Martin Clayton, head of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection Trust, told The Art Newspaper: “Rather than major new research discoveries, the main aim of the exhibition has been to unearth and share with the public important and interesting drawings that have never been exhibited before and, in some cases, to undertake the conservation of these works”. Clayton added: “It is also an opportunity to reconsider the artists of the time as draughtsmen as well as painters or sculptors. For example, we have a plan for a sumptuous marble altar which includes sculptures of saints, the Virgin and Child and of a patron, attributed to Andrea Sansovino, an important sculptor who is almost unknown as a draftsman”.

Another significant piece exhibited for the first time in London is a large pen and ink study of dogs by the painter Parmigianino, “Studies of Dogs” (c. 1530), which shows “dogs with a sense of dignity,” Clayton explains. The exhibition also explores how Renaissance artists used an increasing number of materials and techniques in this period, for example toning paper with a colored wash or adding highlights with liquid lead white. “The Italian Renaissance would have been impossible without drawing, central to every phase of the creative process,” commented Clayton.

(by Paolo Martini)