The Northern Renaissance transformed daily life in the 1500s in the Netherlands (an area today encompassing Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), brought about by the Protestant Reformation, wide-scale urbanization, and the start of the Eighty Years’ War. Partially as a result of these changes, art patronage in the Netherlands shifted from that of the church and nobility to the rising middle class. Central to the blossoming of the arts was the skyrocketing wealth centered in the region’s merchant cities—in particular, Antwerp, which was the primary depot for luxury goods in the North and for overland and seafaring trade as far as Asia.

With their various functions and relationships to other media and projects, drawings provide fascinating insight into the Netherlandish city as a place of artistic collaboration and patronage. Artists made drawings to prepare for large commissions, to transfer designs to other media, and to plan civic events; many works in the exhibition were created in conjunction with the Netherlands’ flourishing industries in stained glass, tapestries, and printmaking. Drawings were also increasingly made as autonomous works of art. A selection of more than 90 drawings explores an array of refined techniques, including lavishly colored drawings and luxury objects drawn with ink on parchment, with subjects ranging from hell scenes to mythological dramas. Two stars of the exhibition are Hieronymus Bosch’s The Tree Man, one of the most idiosyncratic drawings of the era, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Desidia (Sloth), an essay on contemporary civic morality. Among several designs for majestic stained glass windows is a rare cartoon (full-scale drawing) measuring almost five feet tall by Antwerp artist Jan de Beer. Other notable works—seldom seen outside Europe—include portrait drawings in colored chalks by Hendrick Goltzius and a technically sophisticated pen drawing that imitates engraving by his stepson, Jacob Matham.
Docent-Led Exhibition Tours
Exhibition tours are offered at 1:15 p.m. on Tuesdays and Sundays, from October 16 through December 27, 2022; free, tickets required.