Within the history of European art Rubens was the most important artist for the creation of oil sketches. While only a dozen or so works of this type by earlier artists survive, around 450 are known by his hand. The Museo del Prado is presenting an exhibition that will draw attention to this aspect of Rubens’s output through 82 oil sketches in addition to approximately 20 paintings, drawings and other works that provide a context for them. The exhibition is jointly organised with the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam where it will also be shown.
The exhibition includes 82 painted sketches by Rubens, plus other paintings and drawings that provide a context for them. The curators of the exhibition, and authors of the accompanying book, are Friso Lammertse, Curator of Old Master Paintings and Sculpture at the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, and Alejandro Vergara Sharp, Senior Curator of Flemish and Northern European Paintings at the Museo Nacional del Prado.