CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675), The Music Lesson (this painting is not related to the exhibition), 1662-65
Royal Collection, London

Rembrandt, ein Virtuose der Druckgraphik

Rembrandt, a virtuoso of prints Exhibition: 4 August - 5 November 2006

Rembrandt, Jupiter and Antiope, 1659, Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

Rembrandt
Jupiter and Antiope, 1659
Etching
Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

Curator

Holm Bevers, curator of Netherlandish drawings, prints and manuscripts*

From the museum website

On the occasion of his 400th anniversary of his birth, the Kupferstichkabinett – Museum of Prints and Drawings celebrates the great artist Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn with two parallel exhibitions. The exhibition “Rembrandt. A Virtuoso of Prints” presents Rembrandts etchings which, due to their creator’s ingeniuty and technical virtuosity, form a highpoint in the history of graphic art. Rembrandt ranked his graphic work on an equal level to his painting, in the same way as Albrecht Dürer had done a century before him. Working mostly in small, though occasionally in larger formats, he succeeded in employing the art of black and white lines to the subtle rendering of light and shade, plasticity and body volume, material qualities of objects and human skin, as well as atmospheric weather conditions. As a result of the different stylistic means used by the master, some of his sophisticated, finely lined etchings appear like small paintings, while the freely executed, sketchy works are frequently reminiscent of ink drawings.

The Berlin Kupferstichkabinett – Museum of Prints and Drawings owns one of the most important collections of Rembrandt prints worldwide. It is a nearly complete representation of his printed œuvre (containing a total of 300 works), consisting mainly of outstanding impressions and various states. Among them are two excellent early impressions of the famous “Hundred Guilder Print” as well as various states of the late master prints such as “Ecce Homo” and “Three Crosses”. The exhibition shows around 110 prints from all periods and subjects and thus offers a comprehensive insight into Rembrandts graphic work.

Venue

Study Gallery of the Gemäldegalerie – Old Master Paintings, Matthäikirchplatz (Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz).

Catalogue

The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with brief entries and a long introduction on the etched work of Rembrandt.