Bruegel to Rubens: a rare opportunity to see 'outstanding' art
Great Flemish Drawings exhibition examines 16th and 17th century Flemish drawings
Between them, Antwerp's Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Ashmolean in Oxford own some of the most "outstanding" holdings of 16th and 17th century Flemish drawings, said Jackie Wullschläger in the FT.
Including masterpieces by the likes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens, the museums' respective collections of these works stretch to the hundreds. The two institutions have pooled their resources to stage a joint display of the "crème de la crème" – many of which have never been shown in public. First presented in Antwerp, the show has now travelled to Oxford, and marks the first time the Ashmolean has dedicated an event to its Flemish works. Bringing together more than 100 drawings from both museums, plus some exquisite loans, the result is an exhibition in which "exuberance bursts from every sheet". It celebrates a moment when a "distinctive" Flemish cultural identity, "outward-bound, built on flourishing trade and scientific inquiry", was formed.
There's a lot of "sex and violence in this entertaining exhibition", said Alastair Sooke in The Telegraph. We see "a brutish torturer" extracting a martyr's teeth with pliers; "inebriated, lusty peasants" dancing "whirligig jigs"; a "group of half-naked and ecstatic women and girls" sacrificing an ass; and Neptune groping a virgin's breast. There are surprises at every turn, and many of the highlights come from the hand of anonymous or unfamiliar artists. One depicts a "glistening" earthworm "seemingly slithering across a paper sheet". Elsewhere, the little-known Jan Siberechts studies "an old gnarled oak, bulging with orifice-like lumps and surreal bumps". The wall texts, by contrast, are sober, focusing on artistic technique, compositional studies, vellum, blue laid paper and the like. It's all very educational, although arguably it "doesn't really capture the lively, curious spirit everywhere on display".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
There are so many highlights here that it hardly matters, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. Bruegel's contributions do not disappoint: a 1554 ink landscape gives us "hasy summer trees" and "a cow turning its head placidly" as if "interrupted chewing the cud". A later etching of one of his drawings provides the show's most "irreducibly weird" moment, depicting the temptations of St Anthony spilling forth from a giant head: "men emptying pots from the mouth, a heron pecking hungrily at one eye".
Elsewhere, Johannes Fijt pictures a dog "bristling across a page of tinted watercolour as if in pursuit of a disappearing cat", while Rubens thrills with two dozen pictures, among them a portrait of the Earl of Arundel that records its subject "eyelash by tendril by whisker by hair". Most of these drawings are too "fragile" to be shown on permanent public display. Do not miss this rare opportunity to see them.
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (ashmolean.org). Until 23 June
Sign up to The Week's Culture & Life newsletter for reviews and recommendations
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
5 seriously spooky cartoons about HalloweenCartoons Artists take on the GOP boogeyman, a white sheet, and more
-
Political cartoons for October 25Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include hospital bill trauma, Independence Day, and more
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
Roasted squash and apple soup recipeThe Week Recommends Autumnal soup is full of warming and hearty flavours
-
The 5 best TV shows about the mobThe Week Recommends From the show that launched TV’s golden age to a Batman spin-off, viewers can’t get enough of these magnificent mobsters
-
6 well-crafted log homesFeature Featuring a floor-to-ceiling rock fireplace in Montana and a Tulikivi stove in New York
-
Dry skin, begone! 8 products to keep your skin supple while traveling.The Week Recommends Say goodbye to dry and hello to hydration
-
Film reviews: A House of Dynamite, After the Hunt, and It Was Just an AccidentFeature A nuclear missile bears down on a U.S. city, a sexual misconduct allegation rocks an elite university campus, and a victim of government terror pursues vengeance
-
Book reviews: ‘Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife’ and ‘Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How to Fix It’Feature Gertrude Stein’s untold story and Jane Leavy’s playbook on how to save baseball
-
Rachel Ruysch: Nature Into ArtFeature Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Dec. 7
-
Music reviews: Olivia Dean, Madi Diaz, and Hannah FrancesFeature “The Art of Loving,” “Fatal Optimist,” and “Nested in Tangles”