Cleveland is the first and only US city to play host to an ensemble of Raphael drawings from the Lille Palais des beaux-arts’ renowned collection (until 3 November). Organised as part of the French Regional and American Museums Exchange programme (see What’s On, p.22.), this show includes 57 drawings, 25 by Raphael—nine of these are studies for the Stanza della Segnatura, the famous mural series commissioned by Pope Julius II for the Vatican Apartments. The others include the artist’s “Head of a young man wearing a hat” of about 1503 (above). Also on show are drawings by Botticelli, Filippino Lippi, Jacopo da Pontormo and Fra Bartolommeo. Also at the Cleveland Museum of Art are two other exhibitions drawn from the institution’s own collection, “Battle of the nudes: Pollaiuolo’s Renaissance masterpiece” and “Early Italian engraving: 1460s-1530s” (both until 27 October). Cleveland possesses the only known first-state impression of Pollaiuolo’s famous print and this show examines its context, both in his work and that of his contemporaries, and the other show includes works by Andrea Mantegna and Marcantonio Raimondi.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Raphael and his age: drawings from the Palais des beaux-arts, Lille. Battle of the nudes: Pollaiuolo’s Renaissance masterpiece. Early Italian engraving: 1460s-1530s'