Exhibition at the National Gallery Prague – Waldstein Riding School.
Mannerism emerged in Italy from the visual language of the High Renaissance and quickly gained international prominence. It is characterized by a refined elegance, rich imagination, and affinity for symbols and hidden meanings. Printmaking played a pivotal role in its rapid dissemination, while also establishing itself as an independent artistic discipline during this period, and attaining both technical and artistic excellence. Most of the public knew the key works of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Giulio Romano, and the magnificent decoration of the French royal residence at Fontainebleau only through the medium of prints. This exhibition, organized by the National Gallery Prague in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre, presents over 200 exquisite engravings, etchings and woodcuts, as well as related drawings, paintings, jewels, and other objects of decorative arts. It traces the evolution of Mannerist printmaking, exploring its experiments, originality, and connections with other art forms, while testifying to its role in the artistic exchange between Italy and other European countries.
The exhibition benefits from an exceptionally generous loan from the graphic collection of the Musée du Louvre, particularly the rare collection donated to the museum by the renowned art collector Edmond de Rothschild. Some of these artworks have never been exhibited publicly before. The display features an array of works by master engravers and etchers, including Parmigianino, Schiavone, Domenico Beccafumi, Cornelis Cort, Hendrick Goltzius, Jan Muller, Aegidius Sadeler, Jacques Bellange, Jacques Callot, and many others. The artworks from the National Gallery Prague and the Musée du Louvre are complemented by masterpieces on loan from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Albertina, the Rijksmuseum, the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Teylers Museum, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague and other institutions and private collections.
The exhibition is curated by Blanka Kubíková and Alena Volrábová and accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue (422 pages) with contributions of Jean-Gérald Castex, Sylva Dobalová, Peter Fuhring, Helena Zápalková and other scholars.