Michelangelo and Raphael Drawings

Raphael and Michelangelo were both superb draughtsmen, whose drawings were sought after by other artists and by collectors in their own time. Trained in the Quattrocento workshop tradition of skilful control in drawing, and inspired by the innovations of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael each brought technical mastery to new heights and in so doing transformed the status of drawing itself. In this handbook the technique and purpose of a variety of drawings by both artists are scrutinised in an attempt to examine the attitude to drawing and the working methods of these temperamentally opposed masters. The drawings selected are all in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, which has one of the finest groups of Raphael drawings in the world and an important collection of drawings by Michelangelo.