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‘Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings’ -
By Eleanor Reed
On the 23rd June, as part of our ‘bridge to A2’ course, the Italian Department organised a trip for all year 12 students studying Italian to see the Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings Exhibition at the British Museum.
I was greatly looking forward to this exhibition as it was a unique opportunity to see pieces of art which are rarely seen and not intended to be seen by large audiences.
The Exhibition was showcasing drawings taken from the collections of the Uffizi and the British Museum. It featured delicate masterpieces by artists such as Titian, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Raphael. Its intention was to show the increase in importance of drawings as the 15th century progressed and the shift in style and artistic thinking in the use of preparatory drawings.
It was very evident in this exhibition that drawing was not simply a way of preserving ideas but an artwork in itself. Artists were using drawing as a way to explore perspective and perfecting more naturalistic forms, creating a sense of freedom which is not always expressed in finished works of art.
The exhibition was extremely well designed and even though it was a very large exhibition space, I felt an intimacy with the drawings which was necessary to fully appreciate them.
The drawings themselves were enchanting. I was captivated by the fact that a few lines and splodges of ink on a course piece of paper could create such emotive and absorbing artwork. They also, in my opinion, gave an insight into the artist’s mind. They represent physical evidence of the artist’s thought process as he sketched down his ideas for future masterpieces.
This trip was an excellent way of exposing us to Italian history and culture and everyone fully enjoyed it.
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