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30 October 2002 - 16 February 2003
Sunley Room. Admission Free
Supported by GlaxoSmithKline
Hidden below the surface of many paintings are the original preliminary drawings made when the works were executed - and modern technology can allow us to see them. This exhibition reveals and examines such underdrawings in important Renaissance paintings in the National Gallery collection from Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. These include Bruegel's 'The Adoration of the Kings', Raphael's 'The Procession to Calvary', Pontormo's 'Joseph with Jacob in Egypt', Altdorfer's 'Christ taking Leave of his Mother' and works by Crivelli, Memling, Giorgione, Cranach and Lochner. The brilliant preliminary drawings revealed beneath these familiar paintings are extraordinary feats of Renaissance draughtsmanship which have remained invisible until now.
The technical examination of paintings is an area of study in which the Gallery plays a leading role. Although normally concealed beneath the paint, underdrawings can be seen by means of 'infrared reflectography', a photographic technique that makes visible the lower layers of a painting. Digital images are recorded through a television camera sensitive to infrared light and a computer program developed at the Gallery processes the information and pieces it together. The resulting images, which will be shown alongside the paintings themselves, are sometimes unexpected, often beautiful and always significant.
The exhibition - and its accompanying catalogue - will explore the importance of investigating underdrawings for art historical research and will give fascinating insights into the way artists in Renaissance Europe functioned. It will evaluate how underdrawings were developed from independent drawings on paper, their style and the materials used to make them. Some of the paintings included in the exhibition underwent dramatic changes of composition as they were made and the role of the underdrawing as a key stage in the creative process is vividly demonstrated. The exhibition will also show how some Renaissance workshops routinely produced replicas of paintings by using tracings and stock patterns for their underdrawings.
This exhibition is the latest in the National Gallery's award-winning series of 'Art in the Making'. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue, which will examine in detail sixteen paintings of the 15th and 16th centuries. It is edited by David Bomford with contributions by Rachel Billinge, Lorne Campbell, Jill Dunkerton, Susan Foister, Jo Kirby, Carol Plazzotta, Ashok Roy and Marika Spring. It is available from the Gallery shops, mail order and via the website priced at £19.95.
In addition to its support for this exhibition GSK has also contributed to the Gallery's ongoing research into its collection by making a significant donation of scientific equipment to the Gallery.
For further press information:
Tel: 020 7747 2519/2 (Further exhibition enquiries: Razeetha Ram/Cathy Hinde)
Tel: 020 7747 2865 (General Press enquiries)
Tel: 020 7747 2596 (Press photographs)
For Public Enquiries please quote General Information Tel: 020 7747 2885
July 2002
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