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 1,000 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
CONTACT INFO
NEWS & STORIES
Witnessing Winter with Hendrick Avercamp, the ‘Mute from Kampen’
It’s time to re-frame assumptions about this ‘Little Ice Age’ painter.
SCHOLARLY ESSAYS
Explore in-depth scholarly essays on select drawings from our collection.
Wedding Feast at Cana by Lavinia Fontana
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CURATORIAL STAFF
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!Inquiries concerning works in the collection can be addressed to drawings@getty.edu.