Peter Paul Rubens the drawings Anne-Marie Logan in collaboration with Michiel C. Plomp

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Logan, Anne-Marie S., author.

Plomp, Michiel, author.

Contributor:

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640, artist.

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640--Exhibitions.

Rubens, Peter Paul.

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640.

Drawing, Flemish--17th century--Exhibitions.

Drawing, Flemish.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 332 pages) illustrations (some color)

Place of Publication:

New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art New Haven Yale University Press [2005]

Summary:

"For the great Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), drawing was a fundamental activity. In Rubens's large Antwerp studio, drawings were made for the creation of new paintings; collaborators used them to assist the master on these paintings; and they served as instructional material for pupils. The drawings were guarded from the outside world because they were considered a kind of studio secret; the competition could exploit designs for new compositions if they were released prematurely. How precious Rubens considered his drawings is evident from his testament, which stipulated that they should be passed on to any of his sons or sons-in-law who chose to be a painter; only when it was clear, once all his children were grown, that none would become an artist or marry one could the drawings be dispersed. This volume presents, in full-color reproductions, more than one hundred of the finest and most representative of Rubens's drawings, ranging from delightful renderings of children and elegant portraits of noblemen and women to vigorous animal studies and beautiful landscapes. Essays by Anne-Marie Logan and Michiel C. Plomp provide overviews of Rubens's career as a draftsman and of the eventual dispersal of his drawings among collectors some fifteen years after his death. The authors discuss the various functions of Rubens's drawings as preparatory studies for paintings, sculpture, prints, and book illustrations and as private studies meant largely for the artist's own enjoyment. The volume also includes a sampling of the artist's early anatomical studies and copies after antique sculpture, made during his years in Italy (1600-1608). In all likelihood it was also in Italy that Rubens began to collect old master drawings. Eventually he amassed a large quantity of other artists' drawings, most of them by sixteenth-century Italian masters, and he retouched, restored, or reworked many of them. These retouched sheets - several of which are reproduced herein - offer additional insight into his creativity. They are also a starting point for a discussion of the fortunes of Rubens's drawings among collectors."--BOOK JACKET

Contents:

Sponsors' statements

Directors' foreword

Acknowledgments

Lenders to the exhibition

Note to the reader

Peter Paul Rubens as a draftsman

Collecting Rubens's drawings / Michiel C. Plomp

Catalogue

Notes:

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, January 15-April 3, 2005

Includes bibliographical references (pages 314-326) and index

Description based on print version record

Other Format:

Print version Logan, Anne-Marie S. Peter Paul Rubens

OCLC:

856659412