proposal part b - The Bernstein Project

CIP-ICT PSP Call 4 14
Pilot B
[Imperialle]
painter Wilhelm Paneels, who administered Rubens’ workshop during the latter’s journeys to Spain. Based on
these drawings, an attempt has been made to systematize the drawings by Paneels stylistically, but the results
have not been convincing and no new information could be added for understanding this painter’s work.
The collection can be seen as a coherent art historical document that reveals details about the organisation of
the work in Rubens’ workshop. A number of features help to reconstruct the original order of the drawings,
trace their origin, as well as explain how they ended up in Copenhagen. Some of the drawings appear to be
studies by Rubens himself, whereas others seem to be copies of his works or studies by his assistants, which
were then used for the many paintings that poured out of Rubens’ workshop.
If these 528 drawings were carefully analysed, it would most likely be possible to connect each drawing with a
specific painting. Additionally, investigating the watermarks and the paper structure would allow us to reunite
drawings that were cut from the same sheet of paper. Some of these would most likely be among those in the
Copenhagen collection, but others may be connected to drawings by the master himself that are kept in other
collections. This project will therefore enable these works to be linked to works in collections of Rubens
drawings all over the world. This will undoubtedly allow a deeper understanding to be gained of how Rubens’
paintings were created, and will set a standard for the management of similar collections in other institutions.
Also facilitated will be a better understanding of the similarities and differences between comparable painters’
workshops in 17 th and 18 th century Europe.
The digitisation of the images and the paper structure of the drawings in the Rubens Cantoor collection in
Copenhagen is crucial for this understanding.
Maerten van Heemskerck (1498-1574) is one of the main protagonists of art in the Netherlands of the 16 th
century. This artist brought Michelangelo’s imagery to northern Europe and played a major role in the diffusion
of Classical Antiquity north of the Alps. In the Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of
Denmark he is represented with 140 drawings, which is the largest number held by any museum with the
exception of the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. Unlike the drawings in Berlin, which are mainly sketches made
during van Heemskerck’s sojourn in Rome, 1532-1536, the drawings in Copenhagen cover almost his entire
career and thus give the best impression of his stylistic development to be seen in any collection.
Most of the drawings are polished and well-designed models for a series of engravings, of which some were
then done by the artist himself, others by his friend, the learned humanist Dirck Volckertsz, or by Philip Galle,
the leading printer and editor in the Netherlands in the second half of the 16 th century. Many of the drawings
still carry traces of the stylus with which they were traced onto the printer’s plates. Samples of the prints are
also kept in the Department. An analysis of the paper and comparisons with the paper used for the prints as well
as the paper of van Heemskerck drawings in other collections would no doubt give new insights into aspects
such as dating, connections between various printers, etc.
The drawings seem to have been part of the Copenhagen collection since the late 17 th century. A volume of
small black and white reproductions was published in 1971, already nearly forty years ago. Since they are one
of the museum’s greatest attractions and represent a major contribution in the dialogue between southern and
northern Europe, digitization of these images and their paper is urgently needed.
Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud Köln (WRM)
The WRM will be taking part in the Imperialle project with three exceptional collections: early German
drawings, prints by Jean-Baptiste Lepère, and drawings by Jakob-Ignaz Hittdorff.
The German drawings from the 15 th and 16 th century comprise works by Albrecht Dürer, Hans Schaufelein,
Erhard Schön, Bartholomäus Bruyn, Hans van Aachen and others, all of whom can be considered among
the greatest European artists of their time. Dürer's "Catherine", connected to Dürer’s journey to Venice, is one
example of the internationalization of fine arts in Europe from about 1500. Bruyns "Resurrection" shows the
strong influence of Dutch art to that in Cologne around 1530. And Hans van Aachen’s drawing style
demonstrates the influence of the courts in Florence, Prague and Munich on German art around 1600. These
drawings have been selected as they reflect the cultural shifts that occurred in Germany during the 16 th century,
a facet that is of high intercultural significance.