Raphael, at the National Gallery, is a revelation. It could hardly be otherwise, in a sense, since this is the first exhibition outside Italy ever to encompass every aspect of his stupendous career. It runs through paint, chalk and print, wool, bronze and ink, and from the earliest drawing of himself at 15, with doe eyes and a half-formed nose, to the last startling self-portrait where Raphael paints himself with a fellow artist who points to the mirror as if looking to the future, at themselves and also us: one of the greatest double acts in the history of art.
