Rome – a Cardinal’s Dream

The Picture Gallery’s second 500th anniversary exhibition will visualise what might have inspired Thomas Wolsey’s aesthetic and artistic ambition. While Wolsey designed his college in Oxford, Raphael and Michelangelo left their marks on Rome. Wolsey never visited the Eternal City, but as a member of the papal court he admired Rome’s power and understood how it was expressed in its art and buildings. With Roman drawings of that time, this exhibition creates a visual foil for a Roman Cardinal.