Theresa Thompson enjoys a fabulous forage through the Ashmolean’s British drawings exhibition

Dipping into one of its treasure troves – a fabulous collection of drawings, watercolours and prints, considered one of the best in the world – the Ashmolean Museum has put together a dream of an exhibition.

“Selecting 123 works from the 10,000 in the collection was difficult, but I had a wonderful time,” admitted Colin Harrison, senior curator of European Art at the Ashmolean.

Visitors, too, will have a wonderful time seeing so many outstanding works: some favourites, some never shown, from a roll-call of top British artists.

It traces the history of drawing in Britain, from its earliest example, a superb 1650 portrait by Samuel Cooper. It runs through the centuries via Gainsborough, Reynolds, Cozens, Girtin, Turner, Cotman, Samuel Palmer, the Pre-Raphaelites and myriad others, to 20th-century artists such as Paul Nash and David Bomberg and into the 21st century with Merry Meetings by Tom Phillips.

It’s impossible to do justice to the wealth of exquisite work, but don’t miss miniaturist Cooper’s portrait of Thomas Alcock. This small black chalk drawing of a young man with slightly turned head, looking coolly at us, is recognised as one of the most sensitive drawings ever of a face.

A bold wash drawing catches the eye in the midst of landscapes and figure studies by Gainsborough and Reynolds. George Romney’s fluent A Lady Leaning on a Pedestal was used by Ruskin in his Drawing School to show what could be achieved using a loosely applied flat wash. Then, in the section showing works from tours abroad and local landscapes – including JMW Turner’s of Christ Church and William Turner of Oxford’s Stonehenge – there’s a watercolour by Thomas Girtin.

Dunottar Castle in a Thunderstorm, painted 1794, capturing the drama surrounding the tiny clifftop castle with sublime delicacy and verve.

There are surprises too; among them Colin Self’s disturbing Four Studies for Victims of Hiroshima, and a nod to the Gillray exhibition next door, modern examples of political satire: Ernest Shepard’s The Pre-Raphaelite Cocktail Party, from 1934, with long-necked beauties, prompted by a visit to a William Morris exhibition; and Gerald Scarfe’s 1975 Victory Celebrations, with Mrs Thatcher and Edward Heath making v-signs to one another.

Great British Drawings
Ashmolean Museum
Until August 31