The Easel

5th November 2024

Drawing the Italian Renaissance review: This will delight Da Vinci and Michelangelo fans

Drawing flourished in the Renaissance and not just because paper had become affordable. Drawing was also an ideal medium in which to explore new ideas, notably a naturalistic approach to portraiture. While it might have started as a subsidiary activity, the “immediacy and virtuosity” of drawing established it as a unique artform. Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and others all developed and shared their ideas on paper. Collectively, drawing helped define the aesthetic of the Renaissance. A “sensational” show.

29th October 2024

The ghostly worlds of Goya and Paula Rego

Paula Rego admired Goya’s sometimes baffling, sometimes terrifying images. With both artists having a dark side, an exhibition showing them side by side should be interesting. Well, maybe. Some Rego works are “marvellously grotesque” in portraying the cruelty found in children’s rhymes. However, Goya’s prints conjure a world of “monstrous dreams” and are altogether more disturbing. Says one writer, Rego “ends up being no more than Goya’s foil, pointing up the satanic majesty of his imagination”.