Drawing Strength From Its Collection

Print Study Rooms, Two Shows Beckon at the National Gallery

Abraham Bloemaert's "Acis and Galatea," (c. 1590) is on view at the National Gallery of Art. (Woodner Collection, National Gallery of Art)

One of the greatest pleasures of the National Gallery is a trip to look at works in its print study rooms. Absolutely anyone can make an appointment to look at almost anything. All you have to know is which dozen or so sheets you want attendants to show you, out of the almost 100,000 works on paper in the collection.

If that sounds a bit daunting, this summer presents another option: a pair of special exhibitions that display almost 250 drawings from the gallery's holdings, pre-selected by the curators and on view at once. No appointment necessary.

"Master Drawings From the Woodner Collections" selects more than 100 wonderful works donated over the past 15 years by the Woodner family of New York.

Ian Woodner, a real-estate developer, amassed the huge collection, and 145 of its gems were donated to the gallery soon after his death in 1990. Since then, his daughters Dian and Andrea have continued making gifts from it.

There are stunning drawings by Leonardo, Durer, Raphael, Rembrandt, Fragonard, Goya, Ingres and other headliners in Western art history.

Andrea del Sarto's "Head of Saint John the Baptist" (c. 1523) is a part of the National Gallery's Woodner Collection.

Just as impressively, there are equally wonderful sheets by lesser-known figures such as the 16th-century Florentine Andrea del Sarto -- who ought to be a star but has been overlooked -- and by true also-rans such as the Frenchman Francois Quesnel, who died in Paris in 1619, and Jost Amman, who worked in Nuremberg in the late 16th century.

In contrast to the glorious grab bag of the Woodner show, the 130 pictures in "The Poetry of Light: Venetian Drawings From the National Gallery of Art" give a tightly focused view of a single artistic school. Though Venetian artists such as Titian have always been famous for working directly in paint without doing much work on paper first, when they did choose to draw they often achieved miracles.

This 1812 graphite drawing by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres depicts Philippe Mengin de Bionval.

Here are some of our favorite images from the current drawing shows. The nice thing about exhibitions such as these is that other visitors are bound to fall in love with a very different bunch of works.

Maybe they will then revisit them, and other drawings by the same artists, after these shows have closed. All it takes is a call to 202-842-6380 to access the glories of the National Gallery's print study rooms.

Master Drawings From the Woodner Collections and The Poetry of Light are in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, on the north side of the Mall at Seventh Street NW, through Oct. 1. Call 202-737-4215 or visit http://www.nga.gov/ .