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THE Courtauld Gallery holds one of Britain's most important repositories of old master, Impressionist and early modern drawings, and for the first time a substantial number of the works will be making a trans-Atlantic crossing, for ''MANTEGNA TO MATISSE,'' a selection of 58 masterpieces that begins Tuesday at the Frick Collection. Between the two artists of the exhibition's title lie many more that require no more than a single name -- Leonardo, Dürer, Pontormo, Michelangelo, Rubens, Guercino, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Goya, Turner, Degas, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso. The Courtauld's single most celebrated work on paper, often described as one of the finest drawings of the Italian Renaissance drawing -- Michelangelo's ''Il Sogno'' or ''The Dream'' -- will be among the loans, as will Leonardo's pen-and-ink ''Studies for St. Mary Magdalene.'' Another masterwork from the collection will be Rubens's chalk portrait of his second wife, Helena Fourment, which includes one of the most lovingly wrought depictions of a single hand -- the right one, of course, raised and articulated with great sculptural flourish -- in all of Western art. Through Jan. 27, 1 East 70th Street; (212) 288-0700, frick.org. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Focuses on the exhibition 'Elizabeth,' at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England. How Queen Elizabeth I of England marketed her image through her portraits; Use of the royal image to assert, consolidate and maintain her grip on power; Historical background; Highlights of the show; Why Elizabeth's marital status and the question of succession was central to Elizabeth's image.