Titian to Canaletto: Drawing in Venice

With a contemporary response by Jenny Saville

Read our review of the exhibition here

Discover how the splendour of Venice and its shimmering light influenced artists, resulting in compelling portraits, atmospheric landscapes of exceptional beauty and sensuous figure studies.

Venetian art has long been associated with brilliant colours and free brushstrokes, but drawing has largely been written out of its history. This ground breaking exhibition, in collaboration with the Uffizi in Florence, is based on new research. It traces the role of drawing in Venice and its importance over three centuries, dispelling the myth that Venetian artists, including their greatest painter, Titian, had no interest in drawing.

This is the first major exhibition of Venetian drawings in the UK and it includes over 100 magnificent works from the Uffizi, the Ashmolean, and Christ Church, Oxford, by artists such as Titian, Tintoretto and Canaletto.

In a parallel exhibition, Jenny Saville Drawing, one of the UK’s most celebrated contemporary artists, Jenny Saville, has produced new work on paper and canvas in response to the powerful qualities of Venetian drawing.

Preview the exhibition below | The Top Five Exhibitions Opening This Week