Reviews #5
From Scribble to Cartoon: Drawings from Bruegel to Rubens (17 Nov 2023 – 18 Feb 2024)
Museum Plantin Moretus, Antwerp
reviewed by Tyr Baudouin (Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge)
Image: Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, inv. MPM.TEK389
Paul Vredeman de Vries, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, inv. AV.1212.19-30
Joris Hoefnagel, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp, inv. PK.OT.00535
In an elegant note written - in Latin - above his design for the title-page of the book Epigrammata/Poemata, published by the Plantin press in Antwerp in 1634, Rubens wrote: “I do not know, whether you will like my fabrication. I must say, though, that I am really pleased with this invention of mine - indeed I almost congratulate myself on it.” Although rather humble in size and visually maybe not as striking as other works by the master in the exhibition, the design perfectly captures the essence of Rubens as a pictor doctus (‘learned painter’): an erudite painter-humanist who was well versed in mythology and literature - and evidently very much aware of his artistic and intellectual prowess.
The drawing is but one of the many gems included in the exhibition From Scribble to Cartoon: Drawings from Bruegel to Rubens, which showcases many of the very best Flemish master drawings kept in private and public collections in Flanders. The works in the exhibition have been sorted into three groups, according to their function: study drawings, drawings intended as designs, and independent works on paper. Although the categorization of some works can certainly be discussed, this generally works well. The Antwerp ‘big three’ - Rubens, van Dyck and Jordaens - are of course well represented, but the exhibition alternates their - often well-known - works with surprising sheets by many lesser-known or even anonymous masters, such as the delightful design for towel racks by Paul Vredeman de Vries or the deceptively simple yet brilliant study of trees in chalk on blue paper by an anonymous Brussels landscape painter. Furthermore, the exhibition includes several works from a large group of drawings the museum recently acquired from a private collection, most of which have never before been exhibited.
The first room is dedicated to studies in a wide range of shapes and sizes, including botanical, landscape and anatomical studies, as well as studies after (antique) sculpture and portrait studies. Although the selection of works here is not particularly coherent, the sheer quality of the works displayed, such as Jordaens’ Five Women chatting (private collection, Antwerp) more than makes up for that. Next up, the ‘design’ section contains some of the finest works in the exhibition, especially the freely executed crabbelingen (scribbles) by van Dyck and Rubens, true primi pensieri serving as the first step in the design process. Cleverly, some of the designs are accompanied by the objects that were made after them, such as the sculpture depicting Honos, the ancient Roman deified abstraction of honour, by the Flemish sculptor Hans van Mildert, which was executed after a design by Rubens.
The third section of the exhibition is devoted to so-called ‘independent’ works, which can be seen as works of art in their own right. Highlights include several extremely refined miniatures on vellum by Joris Hoefnagel - such as his Allegory for Abraham Ortelius - and Johannes Wierix, as well as works by Hendrick van Balen and Bartholomeus Spranger. One final surprise here is a volume of the Antwerp liggeren (the manuscript in which the members of the Antwerp Guild of St Luke were registered) which Cornelis Floris II decorated with 28 initials and which has rarely - if ever - been exhibited.
The exhibition continues through February 18, and this author wholeheartedly recommends a (second) visit. For those unable to make it, the lavishly illustrated and well-written catalogue will have to do.
