It wasn't too crowded for a late lunchtime on a Tuesday and I think we'd timed it just right to avoid the morning crush of tourists and the afternoon tourist session. None of the framed drawings were roped off so you could get very close which was good for me so I could do the peering-over-glasses thing to see them in glorious close-up. It was also nice to see some drawings that were on top of or beside earlier ones to use the paper more effectively by squeezing on more drawings, scribblings and doodles. There were loads of drawings to wander round and gawp at, ending with a large drawing by Titian.
For an exhibition with Fra Angelico in the subtitle I was rather disappointed to see only one drawing by him, a delicate small drawing of King David, but it was nice to see nonetheless. Other drawings I'd steal from the exhibition are a drawing of a leg by Leonardo da Vinci, 'St George' by Raphael (although I thought the dragon was a bit wimpy), a page of drawings of baby Jesus throwing a kitten around by Leonardo, an allegorical drawing by Mantegna called 'Virtus Combusta' (Virtue in flames) that I found strangely compelling and a drawing of two cheetas by a follower of Giovannino de Grassi (no, I've not heard of him either). Unfortunately, the selection of postcards and merch wasn't very good and I couldn't find a copy of 'King David' so here it is on the web.I quite liked Chris's description of the exhibition - some doodles by some Italian lads...
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