The Practice of Drawing

The art of drawing has existed for as long as humanity itself. Here we focus on the practice of drawing in the Western tradition. We ask why artists draw, what they draw, and how they draw, looking at the development of artistic drawing from the early Renaissance to modern times. We look at some of the most extraordinary drawings from collections around the world which are seldom on public display because of their fragile nature. Click here to explore our microsite

The Grand Tour in Venice

The Grand Tour was a rite of passage, a tour round Europe taken traditionally by aristocratic young men as a means of rounding off their education before settling down to the more serious business of life. Its heyday was the eighteenth century and its goal was Italy, where many travellers acquired Old Master paintings and classical sculpture to adorn their town or country houses.