The Heads and Hands of Two Apostles

It's time for another piece from the great Ashmolean Museum :) Enjoy!

Arguably the most impressive of all Raphael’s drawings, these studies were created after the completion of his final design for his painting the Transfiguration. In these studies Raphael continues to refine the key elements within the elaborate system of gestures and gazes that he had devised for this challenging painting. This piece is evidence of his characteristic visual antithesis: the contrast of youth and age, of profile and three-quarter views of the face, of closed and enquiring hands with an open and accepting pair.

What unifies these differences is Raphael’s extraordinary handling of the black chalk. His utter command of the chalk ranges from the most careful shading, to firm and decisive marks, to the freer lines and traces. Through this virtuoso handling Raphael performs the integration of intelligence and gesture that is the essential subject of this drawing.

See this artwork as part of a once-in-a-lifetime display at the Ashmolean’s special exhibition Raphael: The Drawings, opening 1st June 2017.