Royal Collection Trust has announced the artists who will join its first artist residency at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, organised in partnership with the Royal Drawing School for the exhibition Drawing the Italian Renaissance.  

Jesse Ajilore, Joshua Pell and Sara Lee Roberts are graduates of The Drawing Year, the Royal Drawing School’s full-scholarship postgraduate level course, and bring with them a wide range of styles and experiences of drawing, from computer game design to urban landscape drawing.

Each at different stages of their career, the three artists have been invited to respond to the exhibition, finding inspiration in the drawings of over 80 artists from the Italian Renaissance, from Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael to lesser-known names such as Paolo Farinati and the Carracci family. Opening on Friday, 1 November, it will be the widest-ranging exhibition of Italian Renaissance drawings ever to be held in the UK.

The three artists will be drawing in the gallery on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays throughout the duration of the exhibition. Visitors to the exhibition will also be encouraged to try their hand at drawing, with paper and pencils available in the gallery, and will hear from one of the artists, Jesse Ajilore, on the complimentary multimedia guide.

Computer game design graduate Jesse Ajilore, 25, from Lewisham, south-east London, completed The Drawing Year in 2023 and now mentors young people with special education needs (SEN) with art classes, among other subjects, in a primary school alongside his work as a fine artist. With a background in designing characters for gaming and creating imagined worlds, he has set himself the challenge of creating large studies with multiple figures interacting with each other for his first artist residency. He said: ‘I’m looking forward to learning more about how Renaissance artists approached drawing – both literally with their almost mathematical approach of using measurements, but also how they used it to understand the world. I’d love to pick the brains of the artists, and having the time and space to explore their work will let me get close to that.’

Joshua Pell, 29, from Beverley in East Yorkshire, studied illustration before turning to drawing urban and industrial landscapes around Hull and Leeds. It was a tutor during his undergraduate course who encouraged him to apply to the Royal Drawing School, from which he graduated in 2023. He says: ‘In my day-to-day practice I consciously make the decision to not work from photographs or other images and do as much as I can on location and in the street – so this will be a different way of working for me. We're used to seeing finished works of art in galleries but I'm excited to see how these works began and the start of their creative process. I'm also intrigued to see how visitors will engage with the exhibition through drawing themselves.’ 

For Sara Lee Roberts, from Camden, London, it is the chance to show that historic drawings can still be relevant and inspiring today. Having previously worked as a painting conservator, she completed The Drawing Year in 2008 and has gone on to have solo exhibitions, lead multiple courses in fine art and write a book on reinterpreting the work of Old Masters for today, something she is passionate about. She says: ‘As a tutor, I’m keen to remove the idea that you need to know about the history of art to appreciate these works. I think there’s something very straightforward about looking at art, you can just connect to how the work looks: the light, the shapes. There’s an immediacy with drawings, you sense the artist’s hand.’

Their access to the Royal Collection’s holdings of Italian Renaissance drawings – one of the greatest surviving collections of work from the period – will allow the artists to create a new body of work inspired by the techniques and subjects of the drawings. A selection of their drawings will be displayed in the gallery’s Millar Learning Room as part of an evolving display for visitors to enjoy throughout the exhibition’s run. 

The artist residency is intended to show that drawing is still an essential part of today's creative landscape, just as it was 500 years ago. It is a collaboration with the Royal Drawing School, the not-for-profit art school founded by His Majesty The King, when Prince of Wales, and artist Catherine Goodman CBE LVO in 2000.

The artists in residence will also be leading drawing workshops for visitors, including:

• Drop-in ‘Masterclass’ sessions Free with an exhibition ticket, these drop-in sessions will be led by one of the artists in residence. Each session will have a different focus, and the artist will demonstrate tips and techniques to achieve different effects. (Multiple dates, see What’s On page for details)

• Inspired by the Masters: How to Draw the Human Figure Led by artist in residence Sara Lee Roberts, participants on this full-day course will be taught approaches to drawing the human figure, taking inspiration from the works displayed in the exhibition. (12 December 2024, 09:30–16:30)

• Drawing Live from the Gallery: Inspired by the Italian Renaissance The Royal Drawing School will be running a two-hour online drawing class, broadcast live from The King’s Gallery. This live online session offers a unique opportunity for participants worldwide to draw from the exhibition. The tutor-led class will feature a live model and take direct inspiration from the Italian Renaissance works on display. (Wednesday, 4 December, 13:00–15:00)