Hugo Chapman studied art history at London University, then spent a decade in the Old Master Drawings Department of a London auction house. Finally, he joined the department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. He has produced publications and catalogues on Michelangelo, Raphael, Correggio, Parmigianino, and Padua in the 1450, and plans to publish a scholarly catalogue of the Museum’s Venetian sixteenth-century drawings; he has recently curated an exhibition on Michelangelo drawings and is working on a show on 15th-century Italian drawings, scheduled for 2010.

 

Chapman's responsibilities are the physical care of the drawings under his care and to field all queries regarding them. The majority of his time is spent working on the museum's Merlin database with the aim of providing an accurate, succinct catalogue entry of each work in his field (more than 6,500). There is much to be done to achieve this but the existing records are already a formidable aid to researching and studying the collection. 

 

This will be a workshop in which participants will be able to handle the materials used by Renaissance artists, and will be persuaded to draw so as to be able to understand the difference between a sketch and a carefully worked drawing, or how to tell a copy from an original. No artistic skill will be required (Chapman maintains that he himself is 'rubbish' at drawing!). In addition, there will be a chance to see and discuss images of a few of the drawings in the 2010 show.