Three works from the King Baudouin Foundation’s collection are being shown at the new exhibition Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings, organised by the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford: a copy of Rubens’s theoretical notebook and two drawings from the Van Herck collection.

A new perspective

The Ashmolean exhibition Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings features some of the most beautiful works produced by Flemish masters. Among the 120 of the most remarkable drawings from the 16th and 17th centuries are three works belonging to the King Baudouin Foundation. Visitors to the exhibition are persuaded to observe the drawings on show in a new way, finding out more about the purpose of the works and the way in which this influenced the technique, the materials used, the size and format of each work.

Copy of Rubens’s theoretical notebook

Rubens’s theoretical notebook was acquired by the Foundation in 2012. It is one of four known copies of an original manuscript created by the Antwerp master in the 16th century. The notebook contains sketches, annotated drawings and texts by Rubens, which set out his opinions regarding perspective, anatomy, proportions, symmetry and architecture.

Two drawings from the Van Herck Collection

The Ashmolean Museum will also be exhibiting two drawings from the Van Herck Collection: Sketch for a High Altar in the Church of Saint Ignatius, Formerly the Church of Saint Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp by Pieter Huyssens, and Bacchanal with Children: Sketch for the Edge of a Chiselled Metal Dish by Abraham Van Diepenbeeck. The latter will be the centrepiece of a section of the exhibition devoted to drawings created for works in metal. The Van Herck Collection has over 700 drawings and 110 terracotta pieces dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. They are mainly preparatory works for monumental sculptures or church furniture bearing sculpted ornaments. They were created by artists from the Southern Netherlands and especially the Antwerp region. Collected by the Antwerp art dealer Charles Van Herck (1884–1955), this exceptional collection was acquired by the King Baudouin Foundation in 1996–1997.

From Bruegel to Rubens

This major exhibition is showing over 100 drawings made by Flemish artists between the 16th and 17th centuries, alongside related works such as paintings, prints, books, sculptures, metal objects and stained glass. The visitors of the exhibition will discover how and why artists created these drawings.

Practical information:
Bruegel to Rubens: Great Flemish Drawings
Ashmolean Museum
Beaumont Street
Oxford OX1 2PH, England
pen every day from 10h00 to 17h00