The British Museum is currently displaying three remarkable collections of drawings from different eras, all brought together through generous bequests from passionate art collectors. These exhibitions, housed in Room 90 on the museum's top floor, offer visitors a unique opportunity to explore centuries of artistic expression through the intimate medium of drawing.
The most substantial collection comes from Richard Payne Knight, an antiquarian and art collector who bequeathed over a thousand drawings to the British Museum. His extensive donation spans works from Raphael to Cozens, representing a broad spectrum of artistic styles and periods. Meanwhile, Nina Drucker, a dedicated collector of 18th to 20th-century art, left a more focused but equally valuable collection of 30 drawings to the museum. The third collection features works by Antoine Watteau, gathered through donations from numerous collectors over the years.
Among the highlights are drawings depicting 19th-century London, complete with industrial smokestacks that filled the air with pollution. While these images appear romantically misty and evocative on paper, they serve as historical reminders of the actual smells and health problems that plagued the city during the Industrial Revolution. The contrast between artistic beauty and harsh reality provides viewers with a compelling glimpse into London's urban transformation.
The Watteau collection is particularly rich in anatomical studies and observational sketches of people the artist encountered in daily life. Many of these sketches bear intriguing notations such as "turn over" written on the paper, indicating that both sides of the drawing contain artwork. This detail sparked an amusing observation about the impossibility of viewing the reverse sides when the works are mounted on gallery walls, leading to a playful suggestion for a future exhibition featuring the backs of famous paintings.
All three exhibitions are free to visit and run through mid-September 2025. The specific exhibitions are titled "Colour and Line: Watteau Drawings" (open until September 14, 2025), "Raphael to Cozens: Drawings from the Richard Payne Knight Bequest" (open until September 14, 2025), and "Robert Healy to John Minton: The Nina Drucker Bequest" (open until September 21, 2025). These concurrent displays demonstrate how the shared medium of drawing can unite diverse artistic visions across different time periods and collecting philosophies.
