Raphael : The Drawings

'A magnificent, mind-opening exhibition' - The Guardian

A handsome book examining the role and the significance of drawing in Raphael's career

The Ashmolean holds the greatest collection of Raphael drawings in the world, and the Albertina is the custodian of a major collection including some of the most beautiful and important of the artist's sketches. 

This beautiful book includes a selection of drawings that seek to demonstrate how Raphael created a specific mode of visual invention and persuasive communication through drawing. He used drawing both as conceptual art (including brainstorming sheets) and as a practice based on attentive observation (such as drawing from the posed model). Yet Raphael's drawings also reveal how the process of drawing in itself, with its gestural rhythms and spontaneity, can be a form of thought, generating new ideas.

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