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Secrets of Italian Drawings

…and become a connoisseur yourself. What secrets are hidden in the drawings made during the Italian Renaissance? What stories can they tell us? What do we know about them, and what may we never know? Over the last six years, curators from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen have been researching these questions. In this exhibition the curators take you on a voyage of discovery through the world of Italian Renaissance drawings. Come and find out more about the secrets and mysteries that still need to be unravelled.

up to and including 23 March 2025
Depot

The Renaissance, a thriving cultural period between 1400 and 1600

Italian artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Jacopo Tintoretto intensely studied the human body and were inspired by the example of ancient Greece and Rome. Every region, city or even artist’s workshop developed its own unique style. Drawing was the foundation of all artistic activity, with artists making drawings to prepare their paintings, altarpieces and frescoes and to capture the human figure in different poses. Drawings often carry the traces of their use in the workshop, such as splashes of paint or oil, or squared lines that helped the artist to enlarge a figure for a fresco directly onto the wall. Renaissance drawings were treasured by later collectors, who wanted to have works by the most important artists in their collections.

Looking over the shoulder of the researcher

What does the process of researching a drawing actually look like? In this exhibition we invite you to discover some of the important clues that help us to find out where and when the drawing was made, and most importantly of all, who the artist might be. Find out why blue paper is mostly associated with artists from Venice, while artists in Florence preferred to draw with red chalk. Learn how to recognise a left-handed drawing, and how to interpret the stamps, letters and stains that tell a rich story of the drawing’s life over the last 500 years. And find out how to identify the ultimate artistic sleight of hand, a forgery. Discover this and much more in Secrets of Italian Drawings.

Drawings available online

In 2018 the museum was awarded funding from the Getty Foundation’s Getty Paper Project initiative, which allowed us to research the rich collection of Italian Renaissance drawings and put them online for the first time. In 2024 we completed the catalogue, which you can browse on the museum’s website. Also available in the Depot Store is the exhibition catalogue Italian Renaissance Drawings from Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Read more about the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione, Fra Bartolommeo and Tintoretto which are a highlight of the museum’s collection. This catalogue was published to accompany a touring exhibition at Fondation Custodia, Paris until 12 January 2025, and the Morgan Library & Museum in New York, 23 January - 3 May 2026.

Fra Bartolommeo (Bartolomeo-Domenico di Paolo del Fattorino, Baccio della Porta). Twee studies voor engelen, gerelateerd aan die in het middenpaneel van het 'Billi altaarstuk' (Florence, Galleria Palatina). Circa 1514-1516. Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Bruikleen Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (voormalige collectie Koenigs).
Fra Bartolommeo (Bartolomeo-Domenico di Paolo del Fattorino, Baccio della Porta). Twee studies voor engelen, gerelateerd aan die in het middenpaneel van het 'Billi altaarstuk' (Florence, Galleria Palatina). Circa 1514-1516. Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Bruikleen Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (voormalige collectie Koenigs).
Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte). Hoofd van een bebaarde man in profiel naar rechts. Circa 1560. Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo da Ponte). Hoofd van een bebaarde man in profiel naar rechts. Circa 1560. Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.
Palma Giovane (Jacopo Negretti). Studie voor een knielende man. circa 1576-1581. Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Bruikleen Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (voormalige collectie Koenigs).
Palma Giovane (Jacopo Negretti). Studie voor een knielende man. circa 1576-1581. Collectie Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam. Bruikleen Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (voormalige collectie Koenigs).