A specialist in Italian and British drawings and watercolors, Julian joined the Getty Museum in 2004. Beyond numerous rotating exhibitions from the collection, he has curated and written catalogues for the international loan exhibitions Guercino: Mind to Paper (2006-2007); Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro: Artist-Brothers in Renaissance Rome (2007-2008); and Andrea del Sarto: The Renaissance Workshop in Action (2015). He was co-curator of Leonardo da Vinci and the Art of Sculpture (2010), JMW Turner: Painting Set Free (Tate and Getty Museum, 2015), and London Calling: Bacon, Freud, Kossoff, Andrews, Auerbach, and Kitaj (Tate and Getty Museum, 2016). His book Master Drawings Close-Up (2010) was co-published by Getty Publications and the British Museum. Julian’s doctorate is from the University of Oxford, and he was print room supervisor at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford from 2000 to 2004.
ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Almost all the great artists of the past—painters, sculptors, printmakers, architects—employed drawing as an integral part of their creative process. Using it to explore rough ideas, to study nature and the human figure, and also as an end in itself, artists created works on paper of extraordinary power and immediacy. The Getty Museum’s collection of drawings began with the purchase of a single work by Rembrandt in 1981 and has grown to over 900 drawings and pastels from the 15th to the 19th centuries. From spontaneous sketches to carefully crafted compositions, these compelling sheets demonstrate an array of techniques, materials, and uses, revealing the multifaceted and dynamic nature of the practice and its central role in artistic endeavor.
Drawings and pastels are fragile and susceptible to damage by overexposure to light, and therefore works from the collection are displayed on a rotating basis in thematic exhibitions at the Getty Museum and in national and international loan exhibitions. Drawings not currently on display can be viewed online or seen by appointment in the Drawings Department study room (see details below). testing here
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GOOGLE ARTS & CULTURE
Traditional Transfer Techniques in Western European Art
In European draftsmanship, some drawings were working drawings, playing specific roles in the making of other works of art. When an artist’s design was complete, it was transferred from the paper to another surface using one of several possible techniques: pricking and pouncing, tracing, squaring, and incising.
Explore techniques used to copy original works of art and follow the tutorials to try them yourself
Pastels in Pieces
When 18th-century pastellists competed with oil painters for portrait commissions, they faced a challenge: to create pastels on paper as large as paintings on canvas, they had to join together multiple sheets.
See how artists pieced together large-scale portraiture in this exhibit on Google Arts & Culture
Artists on the Move
In an age before mass travel, European artists from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries traveled frequently. Whether it was a short journey or a long one, a temporary visit or a permanent relocation, artists’ mobility had considerable impact on their practice.
Discover this exhibit on Google Arts & Culture
The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host
Executed in 1836, this large-scale watercolor is a prime example of the English artist John Martin's (17891854) highly dramatic narrative compositions.
Take an in-depth look at The Destruction of Pharaoh's Host on Google Arts & Culture
18th-Century Pastel Portraits
Pastels—dry, satiny colors, manufactured in sticks of every hue—enjoyed a surge in popularity during the 18th century, becoming, for a time, the medium of choice for European portraiture.
Explore a selection of works from our collection in this Google Arts & Culture exhibition
FEATURED VIDEO
New York-based artist Jen Mazza takes a closer look at drawings from the Getty Museum's collection with assistant curator Edina Adam, inviting viewers to join them on an exploratory journey. In this conversation, they examine Wooded Landscape, an 18th-century work by Dutch artist Paulus van Liender, and Mazza reflects on how her work engages with museum collections.
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STUDY ROOM
Drawings not currently on display may be viewed by visitors in the Drawings Department study room. Please fill out the brief application here to make an appointment, ideally at least a week in advance. Thank you!NOTICE: Visitors to the study room must follow Getty-mandated Covid-19 procedures. Inquiries concerning works in the collection can be addressed to drawings@getty.edu.


