I have two pieces of advice for anyone thinking about going to see the blockbuster exhibition at the Met, Raphael: Sublime Poetry. First, don’t hesitate. This is a once in a generation event that closes at the end of June, a unique opportunity to see in one place a collection of truly wonderful paintings and drawings by the Renaissance master (1483-1520). Second, plan your visit with great care and cunning. Anyone who doesn’t will be standing in very long lines and in small crowds clustered around the major works.

As is so often the case with exhibitions devoted to great Renaissance painters (I recall the same experience at the Michelangelo show in 2024 at The British Museum), the thrill here is the opportunity to see up close drawings, “cartoons”, and preparatory sketches normally hidden in or dispersed among different collections around the world. It’s not that the paintings are not superb. They are, and, in fact, this might be the exhibition that puts Raphael as a painter back where he belongs in art lovers’ eyes, as the equal of Michelangelo and Leonardo. It’s just that the drawings demonstrate his exquisite skill for rendering every part of the human figure with such expressiveness and delicacy. The grace, power, and fragility of the body have rarely been captured so beautifully.