"It is the first publication that presents the artist's entire drawn oeuvre in chronological order, previous such publications containing only selections of drawings. By leafing through the illustrations, this arrangement provides the user with a quick visual impression of the variety of techniques, media, subject and functions of Rubens's drawings at any one time. Volume I consists of the drawings of the artist's childhood, apprenticeship and first years as a master in Antwerp to his formative years in Italy, spent mostly in Mantua and Rome, with an excursion to Spain. These are the years primarily devoted to learning and absorbing the art of the past, from sixteenth-century German and Netherlandish prints to the works of the ancient and Italian Renaissance masters. A large number of these drawings consists of copies after the works of other artists, largely executed as part of the artistic training at the time. For the first time, Rubens's copies and their models are not discussed and illustrated as a separate entity but are fully integrated into the rest of his graphic oeuvre, thus showing copies and original compositions created at the same time side by side. The volume contains 204 entries, including several sheets with drawings on recto and verso. Each entry consists of a detailed physical description of the drawing, provenance, exhibition history, full bibliography and a critical, interpretive discussion. In addition, Volume I contains an essay on the history of the scholarship of Rubens's drawings, a subject that has not been treated before. All drawings by Rubens and the works by other artists he copied as well as a selection of other comparative images are reproduced in color." -- (from the publisher)

A generous selection of Rubens' best drawings, chiefly portraits and religious and mythical scenes, that fully reveal his supreme artistic gifts. Publisher's note.

The idea to prepare a catalogue of all the drawings by Peter Paul Rubens goes back to the 1970s, when Professors R.-A. d'Hulst and E. Haverkamp-Begemann decided to join forces in this endeavor. The drawings would be assembled chronologically rather than by themes as was the goal in the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard series. Anne-Marie Logan's task was to begin gathering the necessary information and build up the catalogue. The project has now come to completion and will be published in the Pictura Nova series as volume XX. Envisioned are three separate volumes divided chronologically. All the drawings and corresponding paintings or oil sketches will be reproduced in color. Volume I begins with the copies by the thirteen-year old Rubens drawn in Antwerp, c. 1590, until the end of his sojourn in Italy as a twenty-three year old in October 1608, when he returns to Antwerp. Of the many copies after the Antique only the Rubens drawings that are still known will be discussed. For the lost ones the CRLB volume by Marjon van der Meulen Schregardus of 1994-95 should be consulted. Volume II discusses Rubens's major Antwerp altarpieces of 1610-14, the Costume Book, the Title-pages, Portraits and Hunts, and ends with the decorations for the Antwerp Jesuit church St. Charles Borromaeus in 1620. Volume III starts with the Medici cycle, the Gem book, Landscapes and ends with Rubens's large portrait with Helena Fourment and their young child, the Kermesse and the Garden of Love. Volume IV will include Addenda, Indices, and the sizeable number of rejected attributions to Rubens. Not included will be the retouched drawings that were so thoroughly discussed by Kristin Lohse Belkin in her Corpus Rubenianum volumes in 2009 and by Jeremy Wood in his Corpus Rubenianum volumes in 2010-11. Rubens's Theoretical Notebook, destroyed in a fire in 1720, will only be discussed briefly with regard to the few sheets that have survived. The present catalogue raisonne is to be understood as an overview of Rubens's drawings that is very much indebted to the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard volumes and complements them. The present publication also owes much to the two earlier catalogues on Rubens's drawings by Ludwig Burchard and Roger-A. d'Hulst (1956 and 1963) and by Julius S. Held (1959 and 1986). Further valuable additions to the knowledge of Rubens as a draftsman were published by Justus Muller Hofstede and Michael Jaffe.

The works of Flemish Baroque painter & printmaker Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 - 30 May 1640). Composite 2 Edition. Volume 1 (of 2).

Donated: The Margaret A. Bailey Art Collection.