Laura Gilbert reviews the exhibition Mantegna to Matisse: Master Drawings from the Courtauld Gallery at the Frick Collection, New York, on view through Janaury 23, 2012.

“As might be expected in a show that covers art from the late Middle Ages to the early 20th century, the styles and purposes of the drawings are all over the place. There are Leonardo’s scribbled studies of Mary Magdalene, Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s detailed line drawing of a peasant scene that would be used to make a print, and a watercolor by Cezanne meant as a finished piece…. Exceptionally high quality is the glue that holds the show together. So this is an exhibit that presents art as pretty much ahistorical and at its most fundamental — pure visual pleasure, of which there is plenty.”