WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.- The Norton Museum of Art presents Master Prints: Dürer to Matisse, featuring astonishing works on paper including woodcuts, etchings, engravings, aquatints, and lithographs that range from the 15th to 20th centuries. This not-to-be-missed exhibition brings together several of the earliest as well as later examples of the golden age of printmaking. Works by old masters Dürer, Rembrandt, Goya, and Canaletto, will be displayed alongside those of modern masters Degas, Matisse, Picasso, and Cezanne. The exhibition is on view Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014 through Sunday, Feb. 15, 2015, and is accompanied by a video demonstrating printmaking processes, and texts describing the role prints held in society before the advent of photography.

“Each and every work in this exhibition is rare, and of a breathtaking quality that is no longer available on the market,” says Jerry Dobrick, the Norton’s Curatorial Associate for European Art. “They are the best of the best – a virtual tour de force of the world’s finest prints ranging from portraits, landscapes, mythological and biblical subjects to scenes of everyday life – all created by the most famous artists of their time. “ He adds that, “This unique exhibition is the only opportunity to see these works, the Norton Museum of Art is their only venue.”

World-class works such as German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer’s engravings Knight, Death, and the Devil and Saint Jerome in His Study from 1513–1514 (two of 10 etchings by this master in the exhibition) are examples of the stellar works on display. A century later, Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) created etchings with remarkable and subtle tonal ranges, evident in his Self-Portrait Leaning on a Window Sill from 1639, one of seven works by Rembrandt in the exhibition. In this etching, Rembrandt portrays himself in Renaissance attire, taking inspiration from two 16th-century works, Raphael's Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, and Titian's so-called Portrait of Ariosto. By referencing such esteemed artists and looking confidently at the viewer, the artists claims his position in society.

Of the modern masters on exhibit, Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) is represented by a color lithograph, Les Baigneurs (Grande Planche) from 1896-1898. Primarily a painter and draftsman, Cézanne was not a prolific printmaker. His print output consists of nine works in both etching and lithography. In 1895, Parisian art dealer Ambroise Vollard gave Cézanne an exhibition that was instrumental in promoting his work and establishing his reputation. This show coincided with the revival of color lithography in France in the 1890s, and Vollard was among those art entrepreneurs who commissioned and published prints for portfolios. Cézanne created several lithographs for one of Vollard's early portfolios. One of them, The Large Bathers, was based on one of his favorite subjects – and his most popular painting at the time.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) painter, sculptor, designer, and graphic artist, employed the technique of aquatint for the 1948 portrait, Nadia au Visage Rond, in the exhibition. One of the most economic works in its use of line, it is, at the same time, one of the most visually striking pieces in the exhibition.