BERLIN.- For the first time in fifty years, the Kupferstichkabinett 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, as they were rarely produced as an end in themselves but rather as preparatory works for a piece to be executed. The impressive range of subjects extends from Christian and allegorical scenes, through mythological and historical motifs, to genre scenes, portraits, still lives and landscapes.

In the 15th and 16th century, one of Europe’s most important artistic centres emerged around the cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Mechelen, Bruges and Ghent. Brussels, the residence of the Spanish governors, was the focal point of political and religious power. With its harbour, Antwerp developed into Europe’s leading trading hub, handling grain, textiles, iron goods and spices. Economic prosperity gave rise to a flourishing market for art and luxury goods, while the urban bourgeoisie emerged as a new, self-confident class of buyers. This, in turn, led to the specialisation of painters’ workshops, which produced small cabinet paintings of remarkable detail and painterly refinement to meet the growing demand. Together with cities such as Mechelen, Ghent and Bruges, the provinces of Flanders and Brabant became strongholds of exquisite artistic production: finest lace, valuable tapestries, sculptures and paintings were created here for aristocratic, ecclesiastical and bourgeois patrons.

At the same time, the period between 1550 and 1650 was marked by continuous conflicts between the major European powers and opposing religious camps. The balance of power within Europe was in a constant state of flux, revealing certain parallels with the processes of globalisation in the 21st century.

The seventeen provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands – an area corresponding to present-day Belgium, Luxembourg, northern France and the Netherlands – were under Spanish rule. Increasing centralisation, the curtailment of traditional privileges and the intensification of the Counter-Reformation led to unrest from the 1560s onwards, culminating in the outbreak of the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648). In the course of the war, the seven northern Protestant provinces (today’s Netherlands) gained their independence, while the ten southern provinces remained under Spanish rule. The tolerant policies and artistic patronage of Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia gave rise to an economic boom during the Twelve Years’ Truce (1609–1621), encouraging a cultural resurgence in the region.

In this period of tension, a new, powerful visual language characterised by passionate emotion, vibrant colour and dynamic compositions developed between 1580 and 1660. 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. Shown alongside the work of predecessors and teachers, workshop assistants and contemporaries, they reveal a dense network of professional relationships.

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. From 1621 onwards he pursued his own path and, in 1632, was invited to London as court painter and an outstanding portraitist.

The works of these three artists are complemented by a small introductory selection of earlier works by important predecessors, including two of Rubens’s teachers. These are followed by sheets by artists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder, David Teniers the Younger and Frans Snyders, some of whom were close friends of Rubens or collaborated with him. Also included are figure studies by Adriaen Brouwer and Sebastian Vrancx, who, like Rubens and Jordaens, studied under Adam van Noort; compositions by pupils of Rubens such as Abraham van Diepenbeeck and Erasmus Quellinus the Younger; and works by artists who worked as engravers for Rubens, including Pieter de Jode. The exhibition concludes with landscape drawings by 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.

Almost all the drawings on display were created in the context of larger projects; as rapid initial sketches, detailed compositional designs or precise individual figure 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.
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.