What's on Exhibitions

Rome exhibition displays doodles of famed artists

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

24 Mar, 2022

Scribbling and Doodling: From Leonardo da Vinci to Cy Twombly. An exhibition at Villa Medici until 22 May.

The French Academy in Rome at Villa Medici presents an exhibition devoted to the often overlooked exercise of doodling, examining the carefree sketches and scribbles by great artists through the ages, from doodle king Leonardo da Vinci up to master scribbler Cy Twombly.

Comprising almost 300 original works dating from the Renaissance to the modern era, the exhibition sheds light on a free-flowing practice that has punctuated the history of artistic creation.

In addition to da Vinci and Twombly, the exhibited artists include Michelangelo, Pontormo, Titian, Bernini, Picasso and Basquiat, whose doodles are hidden on the backs of canvases, beneath fresco fragments, in the margins of manuscripts or alongside finished drawings.

For exhibition details, including tickets and visiting times, see Villa Medici website.