Future Exhibitions

Classic Inspiration: Artists Draw from the Antique

Friday 21st February – Saturday 24th May 2014

Hubert Robert (1733-1808)
Artist in his Studio

Since the 1400s artists have taken the remains of antiquity as a point of departure in the creation of new works of art.  This exhibition, taken from an extensive private collection of paintings, photographs and prints of artists at work, looks at how this tradition of drawing the antique has been represented.  The exhibition will encompass works by Palma il Giovane, Baccio Bandinelli, Hubert Robert, Brassai and Jim Dine amongst others. This use of sculpture by artists in their studios for didactic purposes echoes Sir John Soane’s own use of sculpture in his teaching practice.  Following its showing at the Soane, the exhibition will travel to the Teylers Museum in Haarlem, the Netherlands (details forthcoming).