Red chalk: Raphael to Ramsay

The Scottish National Gallery (United Kingdom) hosts an exhibition that explores the versatile and beautiful drawing medium of red chalk. Comprising some 35 works from the Gallery's world-class collection, Red Chalk: Raphael to Ramsay showcases a diverse range of exquisite drawings by distinguished artists, such as Peter Paul Rubens, Salvator Rosa, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Francois Boucher and David Allan. The display features works which, due to their delicate nature are rarely on show, as well as a number of drawings being exhibited for the first time.

The earliest drawing on display, and a highlight of the show, will be Raphael's Study of a Kneeling Nude. This beautiful life-study was made in about 1518 and is a preparatory drawing for one of a series of Raphael’s painted frescos. The delicately drawn figure reveals not only the artist's phenomenal skill as a draughtsman, but also his meticulous preparation for each composition.

Rosa's powerful and arresting mid-17th century drawing, Head of a Bearded Man, is a fantastic example of red chalk being used to produce a highly expressive finished drawing, intended as a piece of art in its own right. A sheet of figurative studies by the influential Baroque draughtsman Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (1708–87), reveals the incredible precision and control that can be achieved with red chalk, whilst Rubens' Four Women Harvesting from c.1630 demonstrates how effectively chalk can be used for rapid sketching, with the simplest and most minimal strokes.

Date: until June 10.
Location: The Scottish National Gallery, The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL. United Kingdom.
Opening hours: from Monday to Sunday from 10am to 5pm.