For the first time in fifty years, the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) is once again presenting an exhibition featuring more than 100 outstanding drawings by 28 Flemish artists from its collection.

The drawings, which are often astonishingly painterly and powerful, were created between 1570 and 1650 and offer fascinating insights into the creative process. The impressive range of subjects extends from Christian and allegorical scenes, through mythological and historical motifs, to genre scenes, portraits, still lifes and landscapes.

Antwerp as an Artistic Metropolis

The period between 1580 and 1660 was shaped not only by continuous conflicts between the European powers but also by formative shifts in religious practice and the emergence of a global trade network. During this era of crisis, in the late 16th century, Antwerp developed into the most important trading centre in Europe and a hotspot of art production.

Rubens, Jordaens, van Dyck

The exhibition revolves around works by the three great protagonists of the Antwerp Baroque: captivating drawings by Peter Paul Rubens, powerfully sensual works by Jacob Jordaens, and bold sketches by Anthony van Dyck.

Peter Paul Rubens – painter, collector, humanist and diplomat – was the dominant artistic figure of his age. Several of the artists represented in the exhibition trained in his workshop, and almost all collaborated with him in one way or another. Following his return from Italy in 1609, Rubens consolidated his reputation as Antwerp’s foremost history painter through a series of large-scale altarpieces and history paintings distinguished by luminous colours and a dramatic new style.

Like Rubens, Jacob Jordaens trained with Adam van Noort. He assisted Rubens with major commissions, including the mythological cycle of more than one hundred paintings created for the King of Spain. Jordaens achieved success early in his career and, following Rubens’s death, became Antwerp’s leading painter.

Anthony van Dyck was regarded as an artistic prodigy. At the age of sixteen, he entered Rubens’s workshop as a fully trained painter, absorbed his master’s creative approach, copied, drew and painted extensively, and gradually developed a distinctive artistic style that, while initially rooted in Rubens’s example, soon became independent, before pursuing his own path from 1621 onwards and being invited to London in 1632 as court painter and an outstanding portraitist.

Artistic Networks and Specialisation

The exhibition is complemented by works by predecessors and teachers, workshop assistants and contemporaries, reflecting a dense network of professional relationships. Included are works by Jan Brueghel the Elder, David Teniers the Younger, Frans Snyders, Adriaen Brouwer, Sebastian Vrancx, Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Pieter de Jode, David Vinckboons, Lucas van Uden, Lodewijk de Vadder and Jacques d’Arthois.

Many of the artists represented specialised in particular subjects, such as genre scenes or landscapes, and collaborated in varying constellations.

Drawings and the Creative Process

Almost all the drawings on display were created in the context of larger projects; as rapid initial sketches, detailed compositional designs or precise individual studies, they served as preparations for paintings, engravings or tapestries. Themes were developed, revised and varied.

The struggle to capture the exact pose of a figure becomes just as apparent as the emergence of an entire composition. In this way, the drawings continue to provide vivid and immediate insights into the creative process and reveal the unexpected richness of Flemish art.

Curator

The exhibition is curated by Christien Melzer, curator of Netherlandish and English Art before 1800 at the Kupferstichkabinett.

Exhibition Catalogue

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue (100 pages, numerous illustrations, ISBN 978-3-88609-915-3)

A children’s leaflet featuring drawing activities and puzzles is available free of charge in the exhibition.

Media partner: tipBerlin

A special exhibition of the Kupferstichkabinett – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin