Michiel van Musscher
“An Artist in His Studio with His Drawings”, mid-1660s
Oil on panel
Liechtenstein. The Princely Collections, Vaduz-Vienna
Dutch drawings at NGA Washington ‘Drawings for Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt’, at the National Gallery Washington from October 4, 2016, through January 2, 2017, will shed light on the varied ways in which artists of the Dutch golden age used drawings as part of the painting process.]]>
Source: National Gallery of Washington
The exhibition features nearly 100 such drawings, many of them paired with related paintings. Among the drawings are sheets from sketchbooks, rapidly executed compositional designs, detailed figure studies, and carefully rendered construction drawings made with the aid of a ruler and compass. The exhibition includes artists from throughout the 17th century and explores a wide variety of subjects, including depictions of everyday life, landscapes, architectural studies, portraits, still lifes, and history scenes. Underdrawings that artists made on their panels prior to painting are examined with the aid of infrared reflectography.
“We are thrilled to present an exhibition that contributes a new perspective to the scholarship on 17th-century Dutch art while also providing visitors with a better understanding of these masters and their artistic processes,” said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. “We are very grateful to Dr. Mihael and Mrs. Mahy Polymeropoulos and the Exhibition Circle for their generous support.”
Several works in the exhibition will be on view in the United States for the first time, including Saenredam’s drawing of the Choir and High Altar of Sint-Janskerk at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (1632) on loan from the British Museum, a preliminary study that the artist later used to create his oil on panel Cathedral of Saint John at ‘s-Hertogenbosch (1646) from the National Gallery of Art. Two of nine surviving sketchbooks by 17th-century Dutch draftsmen are included in this exhibition. Jan van Kessel’s sketchbook will be displayed next to a touch-screen monitor with a digitized selection of its drawings.
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“Rembrandt’s World: Drawings from the Moore Collection” at Morgan Library & Museum (exhibition, 2012)
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