Italian Renaissance at the British Museum

This April, the British Museum takes on London’s art galleries with its very own art exhibition – Fra Angelico to Leonardo : Italian Renaissance Drawings.

Running from 22 April – 25 July, this major exhibition is drawn from the two foremost collections in the field and features 100 exquisite drawings by Italian Renaissance artists including Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo and Verrocchio.

Short break specialist Superbreak (superbreak.com) has packages available that include timed entry tickets to the exhibition and overnight accommodation at a wide range of London hotels.

A unique collaboration between the Uffizi and the British Museum, the exhibition features 100 exquisite drawings by Italian artists during the critical period of the Renaissance, from 1400 to 1510. Drawn from the two foremost collections in the field, the display charts the increasing importance of drawing during this period, featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Angelico, Jacopo and Gentile Bellini, Botticelli, Carpaccio, Filippo Lippi, Mantegna, Michelangelo, Verrocchio and Titian. In 15th-century Italy there was a fundamental shift in style and artistic thinking in the use of preparatory drawings. What began as a means of preserving artistic ideas became the ideal way to perfect more naturalistic forms and perspective – a new approach by painters, sculptors and architects.

Infrared and other technology used in conservation research provide fresh insights into how drawing allowed painters to experiment and explore with a freedom not always reflected in their finished works. Examples in the exhibition show the trend towards depiction of movement and expression of emotion, often inspired by classical antiquity.

Sample packages include:

THREE STAR PACKAGE - £60.75 per person – staying one night at the three President Hotel which is in easy walking distance of the British Museum including breakfast and a timed ticket to the exhibition. Valid at weekends in May and June and based on two sharing.

FOUR STAR PACKAGE- £84.75 per person - staying one night at the four star Radisson Edwardian Kenilworth Hotel which is in easy walking distance of the British Museum including breakfast and a timed ticket to the exhibition. Valid at weekends in May and June and based on two sharing.

For more information or to book log onto superbreak.com.