Of the talented artists who flourished under Raphael from around 1515, Polidoro da Caravaggio holds a place of his own. Naturally gifted, ignorant of academic avenues, and free from the tutelage of Raphael, he decided to follow his instincts as a draughtsman.

Few painters have as extensively and remarkably revisited the works of the classical and Renaissance heritage passed on to them as he did. Few have achieved what could be referred to as “colossal beauty”, exemplified by the most important collection of his drawings in the world, housed at the Louvre.