Traces: Renaissance Drawings for Flemish Prints
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Kermis at Hoboken, 1559, The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust) © The Courtauld
Showcasing a selection from The Courtauld’s rich collection of works on paper, Traces: Renaissance Drawings for Flemish Prints explores the world of 16th century Flemish print production. It features print designs by some of the greatest Netherlandish artists of the era, including Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1525-1569) and Maerten van Heemskerck (1498 – 1574).
The display offers a rare opportunity to see this lesser-known aspect of The Courtauld’s collection, and to delve deeper into the traces left by artists and craftsmen who created the designs for the flourishing print trade in 16th-century Antwerp, a pre-eminent international hub for the graphic arts.
Highly skilled draughtsmen produced finished designs which expert printmakers translated onto copper printing plates. In turn, these were published in great numbers by venturesome publishers who saw the economic potential in the dissemination of relatively inexpensive prints. In this way ingenious artistic ideas and elaborate motifs could travel and influence the development of art across Europe – and beyond.