VIENNA, AUSTRIA.- The Albertina Museum closes today the Peter Paul Rubens exhibition. Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most significant representatives of baroque art north of the Alps. In his native country, this Flemish artist was not only known as a master of monumental altarpieces for Antwerp churches, but as he had travelled widely and was at home in Europe’s leading ruling houses, he knew how to combine his profession with that of a scholar and diplomat. His oevre, which has been preserved in renowned art collections the world over, including the Albertina, bears witness to the recognition he was given by the leading dignitaries of his time, - by the Duke of Mantua, the Spanish and English royal houses and the Parisian court under Maria de Medici.

The Albertina possesses one of the major collections of Rubens’ drawings worldwide. This is the reason why a comprehensive Rubens’ retrospective, the first since 1977, will open there in September. More than thirty of the finest and most important of Rubens’ drawings in the Albertina collection will be supplemented by numerous international loans: paintings, oil sketches and drawings from the National Gallery in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the British Museum in London, Windsor Castle, the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the Louvre in Paris, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Fine Arts) in Vienna, the Bojmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, The State Collections in Berlin and Rubens House in Antwerp, among others.

The hallmark of the Rubens’ drawings in the Albertina is their preparatory nature. They are compositions and in most cases figure studies almost all of which can be linked to one of the artist’s completed works.

The “Peter Paul Rubens” exhibition was organised in close cooperation with the Metropolitan Museum in New York, where it will subsequently be shown in a smaller format.