VIENNA.- The ALBERTINA Museum is dedicating its spring 2025 exhibition to the most important masters of the art of drawing. Leonardo - Dürer. Renaissance Master Drawings on Colored Ground is the major inaugural exhibition of Director General Ralph Gleis and at the same time the world's first detailed museum show in this field: and the most comprehensive presentation of Leonardo in the German- speaking world to date. From an art-historical perspective, the exhibition is also a premiere: the subject is considered in a pioneering way across regions between Italy and the North.
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“With this exhibition, we are drawing attention to the ALBERTINA Museum's magnificent collection of graphic art and its tradition, so it has a programmatic character. The Renaissance was a time of new beginnings–also in the art of drawing. The exhibition sheds light on the development of the technique of chiaroscuro drawing on colored paper–an art that reached its peak with Leonardo in the south and which Dürer brought to the greatest possible perfection north of the Alps with iconic works such as the Praying Hands. During the Renaissance, artists came up with the idea of priming paper or using paper that had already been dyed in order to work with virtuosity in both dark and light areas. This opened up completely new sculptural possibilities and aesthetic experiences for the artists and their audience, as we show in this remarkable compilation of almost 150 works,” says ALBERTINA Director General Ralph Gleis.
The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to discover this virtuoso technique with top-class works from the museum's own collection as well as important international loans from the Royal Collection Trust Windsor Castle, the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Uffizi in Florence, the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin, the British Museum and numerous other international collections.
Art historical insights: developments in Italy and the North
For the first time, developments in Italy and the north are seen in a reciprocal context: While drawings on colored paper in Italy played their role more as sketches and studies in the artistic work process, north of the Alps they were valued as independent works of art in miniature. In German-speaking countries in particular, drawings on colored paper were used for detailed depictions of religious or mythological themes.
“In Italy, the chiaroscuro technique has been used since the early 14th century: artists primarily used color-primed drawings for figure studies and used them to prepare their paintings. The exhibition presents the development of the color ground drawing chronologically, examines the use of color- grounded drawings by individual artists and also works out references to the printmaking of the time,” says curator Achim Gnann.
While the chiaroscuro drawing had a firm place in the work process in Italy, it was preferred in the German-speaking world from the mid-15th century for delicate scenic depictions: “In contrast to Italy, before Dürer these were never design drawings, but precious showpieces and collector's items. Outstanding examples of this are Albrecht Altdorfer's furious depictions of Christian and pagan thought or the famous Witch Sheets by Hans Baldung Grien. The many subjects from history, mythology, religion and popular beliefs alone demonstrate that the artists were targeting the desires of a new, educated clientele,” says curator Christof Metzger.
Starting point: Graphic Collection
For the first time, 26 drawings by Albrecht Dürer meet as many works by Leonardo da Vinci in this exhibition. In addition to works by Leonardo and Dürer, the exhibition presents top-class works by Raphael, Titian, Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Baldung Grien, Hans Holbein the Elder and other outstanding Renaissance masters. The starting point for the extensive show is the museum's own collection: around two thirds of the masterpieces on display come from the ALBERTINA Museum.
Master drawings such as Leonardo's Apostles or Dürer's Praying Hands paved the way for the recognition of the art of drawing as an artistic genre on a par with painting and are still among the most famous works of the Renaissance and the centerpieces of the ALBERTINA Museum's graphic art collection.
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