Madonna, David Beckham, John Lennon, John F Kennedy, Sir Christopher Wren, Joan of Arc, Ghandi… there are some people that have made almighty impressions on the world… and one of them, Michelangelo, has work in a gallery near you.

Not a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but a painter, sculptor, poet, architect, all round Renaissance Man, Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (1475-1564), is regarded as the most influential artist of all time.

Renowned for his intriguing compositions, stunning colours and sculptural, monumental figures; Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican is the most replicated work of art in existence.

Artists from Raphael to Tintoretto to 14-year-old art students the world over have copied Michelangelo’s works in order to further understand his genius, as well as their own artistic ideas.

Drawing upon this practice, After Michelangelo allows the viewer an excellent insight into artists’ education in the 16th century while offering the opportunity to view drawings that have never been on public display before.

In short, After Michelangelo is an exciting exhibition to behold, and we are fortunate to find it on our doorstep.

Whilst a number of works by Michelangelo are exhibited in this exhibition, the viewer is not presented with a study of Michelangelo’s immeasurable influence on the arts; instead, the exhibition documents the impression that this great artist made on his contemporaries through a display of 30 drawings, all from one collection.

The collection of old master drawings exhibited was bequeathed to Christ Church in 1765 by General John Guise.

Guise (1682/3–1765) was a graduate of Christ Church College with aspirations within academia; he didn’t quite cut the mustard, so instead cut his losses, and joined the army. Guise went on to become an accomplished soldier, pursuing his interest in art in parallel to his military career.

Intrigued by the human perspective and realism offered by the Renaissance period, Guise soon started collecting, acting as an artistic adviser, and attracting interest amongst his peers for his connoisseurship.

His own collection included gems such as Carracci’s The Butcher’s Shop (also now part of the Christ Church Picture Gallery collection), and works by artists such as Raphael and Tintoretto.

There’s no disguising that Guise obviously knew talent when he saw it, and was obviously in a position to snap up a “bargain.”

The writer, collector, and traveller Horace Walpole described this colourful character as “a very brave officer, but apt to romance, and a great connoisseur of pictures”. (Not a bad way to be described!) So how did Guise’s collection, and other such great works of art come to find themselves tucked away in a modest looking gallery on an Oxford back street?

An interesting question, and one to consider as an Oxford resident.

Christ Church Picture Gallery’s collection exists as a consequence of outstanding generosity. Guise married late at 41, and died after his wife and child.

He was no great academic, but believed in the merits of education and in the sustained reputation and ambition of Christ Church College, University of Oxford, so who better to leave his treasured collection to?

It’s the origin of riches like those displayed in After Michelangelo that serve as a reminder of the University of Oxford’s far-reaching position of importance in history.