French Drawings: From Clouet to Courbet

Delightful exhibition at the British Museum of French portrait drawings from their own collection.

The poster boy who greets you is a wonderful self portrait of Courbet, a confident 33 year old, and he sets the tone for a collection of fabulous pictures. I loved the section on Clouet, both father and son, a French Holbein. These were intimate natural drawings. There was also a nice selection of pictures by Louis Carmontelle who was based in the court of the Duke D’Orleans. He was a garden designer and engineer but drew wonderful pictures of the courtiers and people who came to visit including a 7 year old Mozart.

The commentaries on the pictures were excellent, quite detailed but very readable and quite witty. Whoever wrote them had an eye for the strange and original. The show because a good overview of the development French art in this period. I liked in inclusion of medals in the show.

My favourite picture in the show was one of Artemesia Gentileschi’s hands by Pierre Dumonstier II. It was exquisitely drawn and a lovely idea to draw an artist’s hands plus Artemesia is one of my favourites.

Closes on 29 January  2017

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