CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.- On Saturday, April 9, 2005, the University of Virginia Art Museum kicks off a two-month exhibition of Masterpieces of European Drawing, a special presentation of 61 works from one of France’s oldest and most esteemed museums, the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, located in the city of Besançon, France. The exhibition will be on view through Sunday, June 5, 2005. This will be the only presentation of this collection in the United States for the foreseeable future.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie is one of France’s most revered art museums. Created in 1834 and opened in 1843, the museum contains an outstanding collection that charts France’s cultural progression throughout the centuries.

This past fall, Besançon and Charlottesville signed an official proclamation of friendship, the first formal step toward becoming sister cities. This new relationship affords the University of Virginia Art Museum the opportunity to show a collection of works from the sixteenth through the twentieth century by European masters.

This special exhibition illuminates the function of drawings with respect to their relationship with other artistic forms. Drawings featured in the exhibition by such masters as Mantegna, Rembrandt and Rubens evidence the virtuosity readily seen in paintings by these well-known artists. Masterpieces of European Drawing thus sites the connection between artistic mediums by illuminating the expressive function of drawings.

The works in the exhibition reflect the range of subjects and techniques by major artists working from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries in Europe and encompass a variety of media, including pen, pencil and watercolor. Among others, the exhibition includes works by such masters as Boucher, Courbet, David, Delacroix, Greuze, Mantegna, Matisse, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Signorelli.

Not only is Masterpieces of European Drawing a rare look at works by undisputed masters, it also demonstrates the University of Virginia Art Museum’s mission to enhance Charlottesville’s cultural milieu with high caliber exhibitions that explore the meanings, functions and processes of art. An illustrated catalogue, in French, accompanies the exhibition. A translation will be available.

The exhibition will open with a preview gala event on April 8, 2005 (invitation only), and be supported by an array of programs including a series of scholarly lectures, family events, guided tours and more. For details about the exhibition and related programs, call (434) 924-3492, or visit the website: http://www.virginia.edu/museum.

The exhibition is made possible at the University of Virginia Art Museum with the support of the University of Virginia Art Museum Volunteer Board, Museum members, the City of Charlottesville, the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust, the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities, and a generous anonymous gift. Additional support is provided by Nicholas W. Acquavella, William Acquavella, Ruth Cross, Bertie D. Heiner, Ellen and David King, Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III, Dorothy H. Lawson-Johnston and Peter O. Lawson-Johnston, Sheridan and Thomas F. Nicholson, The Rotary Club of Charlottesville, Barbara and Martin Schulman, Whitney and Anne M. Stone Foundation, and Wooter von Eldik. We are grateful to the Centre George Pompidou, Paris, for the loan of eleven works in the exhibition, donated by Adele and George Besson in 1963.