Part of multi-museum program Rubens 2004.
From the Rubens 2004 website
Rubens’s painting remained popular long after his death, inspiring not only painters, but also engravers, and offering them an excellent opportunity to display their own artistry. The graphic reproduction of his work steadily increased. Interest in his works was not limited to Antwerp, but spread rapidly to neighbouring countries. Particularly popular were Rubens’s best known paintings, like the Deposition from the Cross in Antwerp Cathedral. But timeless works like portraits were also in favour. With some 3000 prints of his paintings, Rubens is perhaps the only artist whose work has been so extensively reproduced in graphic form. The exhibition presents the most impressive examples, and in so doing reveals the skills of European engravers between 1650 and 1800.