Wirral Arts : Enthralling exhibition of sketches by Old Masters at the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight

Nov 3 2010 by Matt Hurst, Heswall News

AN enthralling collection of sketches by some of world’s greatest Renaissance artists is on show at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

The Old Masters Drawings: Guercino, Rubens and Tintoretto exhibition features 31 drawings by great Italian Renaissance and Northern European artists, produced between 1500 and 1800.

They offer a fascinating insight into the processes undergone before work commenced on a finished piece, as well as the thoughts and creative work artists may do outside the commercial pressures of producing to commission.

Some of the artists would use the drawing stage to loosen their wrists before beginning a painting or sculpture, in much the same way modern sportspeople limber up.

Others see drawing as a key part of the creative process: ideas can be explored, then retained or discarded.

The head of the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Sandra Penketh, said: “Throughout the centuries drawing has been at the heart of art.

“Drawing was the language of lines and tones that young artists were taught to use before being allowed to paint or sculpt. We see how artists approached their work, from a humorous sketch to a highly-finished altar design.”

Among the most recognisable sketches is God creating Adam by Peter Paul Rubens, who lived from 1577 to 1640.

The work is an interpretation of the famous detail that makes up part of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, and appears more naturalistic and animated than the original.

Also by Rubens is Study for the circumcision, which was completed five years later and differs in detail from the huge finished painting that now adorns the High Altar of Genoa’s Church of the Gesu.

Old Masters Drawings: Guercino, Rubens, Tintoretto runs at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight until May 2 2011.