Raphael to Cozens
drawings from the Richard Payne Knight bequest

The antiquarian and art collector Richard Payne Knight (1751–1824) bequeathed over a thousand drawings to the British Museum. The superb quality of his collection transformed the Museum's graphic holdings and established it as a place where visitors could admire old master drawings alongside works of contemporary British art.

Born into a wealthy family of ironmasters from Herefordshire, Payne Knight was educated in the classics and complemented his studies, as many on the 'Grand Tour' did, with extended travels in Italy. There he pursued his interests in ancient civilisations and languages, and formed the aesthetic sensibilities and tastes that would later shape his collecting and writing.

His substantial financial means enabled him to acquire the best drawings available on London's late 18th-century art market. The exhibition explores the breadth of Payne Knight's intellectual interests through some of the most celebrated works from the bequest. Drawings by Renaissance and Baroque painters like Raphael, Michelangelo and Claude Lorrain will be shown alongside work by Payne Knight's contemporaries, including Thomas Gainsborough and John Robert Cozens. Together the drawings reveal Payne Knight's enthusiasm for landscapes and for the romance of the classical past, as well as his admiration for the verve and spontaneity of the artists whose works he bought.

The exhibition marks the first time that a representative selection of this important bequest has been displayed since its arrival at the British Museum in 1824.