Introduction to Master Drawings London, by David Scrase
The recent exhibition of Leonardo at the National Gallery gave me reason to reconsider the cartoon of The Virgin and Child with St Anne and St John the Baptist which was the first drawing that I remember looking at with real attention when the appeal for its acquisition persuaded me to part with a hard won half-crown. I was not immediately compelled by the drawing which I thought was rather gloomy.
In England we were not taught much by way of art appreciation and I remember distinctly that it was a discussion with a school boy from France, a country where appreciation of the Fine Arts was then a more specific part of the school curriculum than it was in Britain, which got me looking properly. He was in ecstasy over the cartoon and I asked him what was so wonderful about it. He said it was difficult to explain in words but he suggested that my relative lack of enthusiasm for it was caused by my not having looked at it properly.
You must concentrate and not be distracted he said. Sit in front of it and just look, and look again, and then look and eventually it will come to you. So I did as he had suggested and found that concentration was indeed the core of looking and led to true appreciation not just of the Leonardo cartoon, but of any work of art. Seeing the cartoon in the context of the exhibition it seemed to me to be the finest object on display.
Drawings week is a great opportunity for meeting dealers, collectors and amateurs of drawing. The variety and range of what is exhibited stimulates conversation, extends our knowledge and creates the opportunity for new enthusiasms. It is always a pleasure to see new drawings by favourite artists, thereby extending one's knowledge but it is often the newly discovered drawings by artists who are less well known which are the plums in the pudding of this post Salon pie.
I always enjoy the friendships and rivalries renewed during this particular season, but above all it is the opportunity to look and look again that makes it worthwhile.
David Scrase
Assistant Director (Collections)
The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Participants
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Master Drawings London 2012
27th June to 5th July 2012
Monday to Saturday
10am - 6pm
Sunday
12 noon - 6pm
Telephone
+44 (0)20 7439 2822