Loans from the Royal Collection
Current loans to exhibitions from the Royal Collection
Every year hundreds of objects, including paintings, drawings and decorative arts, are lent from the Royal Collection to institutions across the UK and abroad for both short- and long-term display. The loans programme, administered by Royal Collection Trust, enables new audiences to enjoy works of art from the Royal Collection, as well as helping us to increase our understanding of these works.
For information regarding loan requests, please click or tap on the button below.
See a selection of current loans from the Royal Collection below.
A new exhibition at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. explores the parallel lives and careers of George III and George Washington. For the first time, George Washington’s papers from the Library of Congress will be displayed alongside archival material relating to George III from the Royal Archives and Royal Collection. These materials will shed light on their family, models of rule, shared interest in science and agriculture, and their role in the American Revolution. The works will be on loan until 27 September 2025.
A new exhibition at the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen, home to an almost complete set of plaster castes after the sculptures of Michelangelo, will celebrate the Renaissance master’s achievements as a sculptor. The plaster casts will be accompanied by new 3D-printed resin reproductions of Michelangelo’s remaining sculptures, allowing the visitor to experience Michelangelo’s sculptures together in one place. The largest number of Michelangelo’s drawings ever displayed in Denmark will also feature, including two sheets from the Royal Collection: a heroic red chalk drawing of a heavily-muscled figure and one of Michelangelo’s anatomical studies. Until 31 August 2025.
Take a closer look at the drawings in our Collection Online.
Two paintings have been lent to an exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York, which examines how the biblical story of Queen Esther was interpreted by Rembrandt and his contemporaries in 17th-century Netherlands. Rembrandt and his Wife Saskia, attributed to Ferdinand Bol, draws visual parallels to the story of Esther. Like Saskia, Esther is often depicted sitting at her toilette, wearing an intricately decorated cloak and pearls. Also on loan is Willem de Poorter’s Mordecai Listening to The Conspiracy of Ahasuerus's Chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, which presents a rarely depicted scene from the Book of Esther: the moment that Mordecai overhears a conspiracy to assassinate King Ahasuerus. This painting has undergone full conservation treatment in preparation for the loan. Until 10 August 2025.
A painting by Caravaggio, titled Boy Peeling Fruit, has been lent to the Palazzo Barberini for an exhibition examining how Caravaggio’s art was considered revolutionary, both by his contemporaries and by 20th-century critics. From 1604, sources consistently emphasised the extraordinary influence Caravaggio exerted on young artists, some with amazement, others with extreme concern. This exhibition, organised thematically, aims to showcase Caravaggio’s innovative approach to his choice of subject matter, composition, and workshop practices. Boy Peeling Fruit, which may be Caravaggio's earliest surviving painting, dates from his first years in Rome. Until 6 July 2025.
Take a closer look at Boy Peeling Fruit in our Collection Online.
An exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna will examine the connection between nature and time during the Renaissance, featuring masterpieces by Jacopo Bassano, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Two pairs of works from the Royal Collection have been lent to the exhibition: two botanical drawings by Leonardo da Vinci, which highlight the scientific study of natural forms during the Renaissance; and two drawings of silk cultivation by Giovanni Stradanus. The drawings were made as preparatory studies for his renowned series of engravings, Nova Reperta (New Discoveries), which depicts new inventions that exploited the natural world. Until 29 June 2025.
A triptych by Duccio di Buoninsegna has been lent to the National Gallery in London for an exhibition devoted to the role of Sienese artists – such as Duccio, Pietro and Ambrogio Lorenzetti, and Simone Martini – in defining Western painting. The triptych is a distinctive, early example of a small-scale devotional image from Sienna. It highlights Duccio’s experimentation with new methods of representing space, marking a pivotal moment in the artist’s career. Until 22 June 2025.
11 drawings by Leonardo da Vinci on coloured and prepared paper have been lent to an exhibition at the Albertina Museum in Vienna, which examines the use of drawings on coloured ground across Europe during the Renaissance. The drawings were created using a variety of materials, and demonstrate the way that coloured paper provides a tone on which to apply light and dark hues. The exhibition is composed of drawings from the Albertina’s own collection and international loans, and includes work by Albrecht Dürer, Mair von Landshut, Hans Holbein the Elder, Jan Gossaert, Pisanello, Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. Until 9 June 2025.
A new exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago examines the close relationship between drawing and printmaking from the 15th to the 19th century. Two works on paper are on loan from the Royal Collection. Albrecht Dürer’s Pupila Augusta is the earliest example in the exhibition of a preparatory drawing for a print (albeit unexecuted), by the greatest printmaker of the Renaissance. The other item on loan is a pioneering early monotype (a combination of printmaking and drawing) by the Italian artist Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione. Until 1 June 2025.
Two objects associated with the Ghanian-born former slave and abolitionist campaigner Ottobah Cugoano have been lent to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for an exhibition which focuses on history of the fight to end transatlantic slavery. An etching by Thomas Rowlandson, which depicts the artists Richard and Maria Cosway with Cugoano, is the only known representation of Cugoano made in his lifetime. It is shown alongside a copy of his seminal book Thoughts and Sentiments, the first and most direct criticism of the transatlantic slave trade by a writer of African descent. It may be the copy which Cugoano presented to George IV when Prince of Wales. Until 1 June 2025.
Six drawings by Annibale Carracci have been lent to a new exhibition at Musei Capitolini in Rome, which focuses on the patronage of the Farnese family in the 16th century. A key figure in this patronage was Cardinal Odoardo Farnese. He summoned the brothers Annibale and Agostino Carracci from Bologna to Rome around 1595, and commissioned them for two decorative schemes in Palazzo Farnese (now the seat of the French Embassy): the frescoed ceiling of his study, the Camerino, followed by the decoration of the sculpture gallery, the Galleria Farnese. Annibale’s frescoes in the Galleria are considered masterpieces of the Roman Baroque. Until 18 May 2025
This exhibition showcases works of art created during the reigns of the Mughal emperors Akbar (r.1556–1605), Jahangir (r.1605–1627) and Shah Jahan (r.1628–1658). It explores the internationalist culture in the royal workshops, where Iranian artists and craftsmen worked alongside Hindustani masters. Two exquisite illustrations from the Padshahnamah – the official chronicle of the reign of Shah Jahan – are on loan to the V&A. They depict Shah Jahan holding court in the Hall of Public Audience in Agra, as a group of Europeans bearing gifts wait to be received, and Shah Jahan receiving his son, Prince Awrangzeb, at court in Lahore. Until 5 May 2025.
Six of Andrea Mantegna’s monumental paintings from the series The Triumphs of Caesar – considered to be amongst the finest achievements in Italian Renaissance art – have been loaned from the Royal Collection and can now be seen in a special display at the National Gallery. Other items from the Royal Collection are on long-term loan.
Take a closer look at Mantegna's paintings in our Collection Online.
