I had a couple of hours to spare before meeting my friends for afternoon tea at Bea’s of Bloosmbury so I headed to my favourite museum/art gallery in London – the National Portrait Gallery near Trafalgar Square.
I was keen to see one of the gallery’s temporary exhibitions, The Encounter: Drawings from Leonardo to Rembrandt, which runs until 22 October.
The exhibition features 48 portraits by European Renaissance and Baroque artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger, Rembrandt van Rijn, Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci.
The portraits were all drawn on paper using coloured chalks, pen and ink, or metalpoint, and this simplicity lent an intimacy to the exhibition.
The craft and skill on display was incredible, and it might sound silly, but I was struck by how lifelike all the portraits were.
They looked like real people as opposed to slightly distorted drawings or caricatures and I felt as though I was seeing a true reflection of what the sitter looked like.
Of all the portraits featured, those by the 16th century Italian artist Annibale Carracci were my favourite.
The exhibition featured four portraits that were either drawn by the artist or attributed to the artist – one was of the lutenist Giulio Pedrizzano, while the others were of unknown young men and boys. The portraits were excellent and really seemed to capture the essence of the sitters.
Hans Holbein the Younger is one of my favourite portraitists, largely because I like his portraits from his time at Henry VIII’s court.
The exhibition featured seven of his portraits, mostly of unnamed people, but one of the portraits was of John More, the father of Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor Thomas More.
The one thing that struck me about Holbein’s portraits was the lifelikeness of the eyes. In one portrait, the eyes looked so true to life they looked like a photograph.
Despite being one of the headline artists, there’s only one portrait by Leonardo da Vinci in the exhibition, but it’s an exceptional piece of portraiture and shows why he’s one of the greatest artists of all time.
The portrait is that of a naked man and he’s captured his form perfectly in a deceptively simple drawing.
I really enjoyed The Encounter, it’s a small exhibition (it only took half an hour to see everything) but interesting. The skills showcased by the artists are astonishing and it was great to see such simple, but incredible, works of art.
Photos weren’t allowed, which is why there aren’t any accompanying pictures. But if you like portraiture and drawing, and are in London, the exhibition is well worth seeing.
Info
The Encounter: Drawings from Leondardo to Rembrandt
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H 0HE
Adults £8, concessions £6.50, free for members
Until 22 October 2017
npg.org.uk
Little Old World 
Leave a Reply