Publication of the week: Dr Adriano Aymonino

Adriano Aymonino & Anne Varick Lauder, Drawn from the Antique: Artists & the Classical Ideal (exhibition catalogue, London: Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2015). 131 pp.  ISBN: 978-0-9573398-9-7 (pbk).

Sir John Soane’s Museum openened a new exhibition entitled Drawn from the Antique: Artists & the Classical Ideal in June (it runs until 26 September) – its largest international loan show to date. The display examines how antique sculpture, from ancient Greece and Rome, has been one of the most important sources of inspiration to Western artists for the past five centuries. Featuring both iconic and rarely seen artworks, the exhibition will offer visitors the chance to admire pieces by artists including Rubens, Fuseli, Turner and Zuccaro.

Drawn from the Antique provides the first overview of the practice of drawing from ancient sculpture and the influence this has had on visual arts, from the Renaissance through to the nineteenth century. It is a practice crucial to the understanding and appreciation of European art, stemming from the classical ideal of the body, used in artistic teaching for half a millennium. It is also a concept that lies at the heart of Sir John Soane’s collection, with his Grand Tour of Europe having an enduring influence on his long career.

Read the press release from Sir John Soane’s Museum: Drawn from the Antique (PDF file, 647 KB).

The catalogue also includes:

• Ian Jenkins and Adriano Aymonino, “Ideal Beauty and the Canon in Classical Antiquity”, pp.11-14
• Adriano Aymonino, “‘Nature Perfected’: The Theory & Practice of Drawing after the Antique”, pp.15-78

There have been reviews of the exhibition in The Art Newspaper, The Spectator, Times Literary Supplement, History Today, Minerva and The Burlington Magazine.

Dr Adriano Aymonino is co-ordinator of The University of Buckingham’s undergraduate Art History programme. Prior to joining the University in 2012, he held postdoctoral fellowships at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art of Yale University in London and at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.