Exhibitions

From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings
from the Prado

January 23–April 5, 2009
Main Gallery

Bartolomeo Passerotti (1529–92), Male Head, pen and brown ink. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, D-1781 (FD 1368).  

See 70 original drawings by Michelangelo and other 16th-century masters from the collections of Spain's prestigious Prado Museum. Focusing on the period from roughly 1520 to 1620, this exhibition highlights the exceptional technical proficiency achieved by artists of the time while demonstrating the importance of drawing in the creation of multiple types of art, including ceramics, frescos, prints, tapestries, and stained glass.

Scholar Nicholas Turner's extensive research in identifying and documenting these drawings has led to the first exhibition of most of these works outside the Prado since the institution acquired them more than 75 years ago. Turner's work also revealed two of the drawings as Michelangelo figure studies for the Sistine Chapel's Last Judgment.

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Related Events

• Tours. Free guided tours of From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings from the Prado and the exhibition Polaroids: Mapplethorpe will take place Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm from January 24 to April 5.

• Winter 2009 Exhibitions: A Curator's Perspective. On January 22, 2009, Block Museum senior curator Debora Wood spoke about the exhibitions From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings from the Prado and Polaroids: Mapplethorpe. Hear her talk and watch a slide show of images from the exhibitions on the Block Museum's podcast page.

• Connoisseurship and Scholarship in Italian Drawings: Two Cogent Collections Compared. On February 5, 2009, Suzanne Folds McCullagh, Anne Vogt Fuller and Marion Titus Searl Curator of Earlier Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, spoke about the exhibitions From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci: A Century of Italian Drawings from the Prado and Drawn to Drawings: The Goldman Collection, the extraordinary collections they come from, and the scholarship of independent curator Nicholas Turner in cataloguing the collections and selecting works for exhibition. An audio podcast of her talk can be found on the Block's podcast page.

• Things Never Seen: Graphic Fantasy and the Dreaming Draftsman. A lecture by David Rosand, Meyer Schapiro Professor of Art History, Columbia University. Thursday, March 12, 5 pm. Part of the Elizabeth and Todd Warnock Lecture series organized by Northwestern University's Department of Art History.

• Renaissance Drawing: A Roundtable Discussion. Friday, March 13, 10 am–Noon. Learn more about Renaissance drawing from Northwestern University faculty and visiting scholars in a conversation suitable for both general and academic audiences. Participants include Jesús Escobar (Northwestern University), Cammy Brothers (University of Virginia), Claudia Cieri Via (Sapienza University of Rome), David Rosand (Columbia University), Marco Ruffini (Northwestern University), and Stephanie Schrader (J. Paul Getty Museum). Organized by Claudia Swan, chair of the Northwestern Department of Art History.

From Michelangelo to Annibale Carracci is organized and circulated by Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia, in association with The Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Support for the exhibition has been provided by The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, The Chisholm Foundation, and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities. Support for its exhibition at the Block Museum is provided by the Alumnae of Northwestern University; Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation; Embassy of Spain in Washington, D.C.; Illinois Arts Council, a state agency; Istituto Italiano di Cultura; and Myers Foundations.