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Introduction

Under the Magnifying Glass

Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Museum's Collection
September 22, 2000 - January 14, 2001

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, artists working in the Low Contries (present-day Netherlands and Belgium) looked closely at every aspect of the world around them and also fashioned imagined worlds reaching back to ancient Greece and Rome. Not only did artists depict details made visible with the aid of a magnifying glass, but they applied this same scrutiny to broad views of the landscape and life within it. Three hundred years later, their rich and detailed images still have the power to captivate the eye. In the spirit of investigation, six graduate students in a seminar given by the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at Brown University placed the 19 drawings in this gallery "under the magnifying glass." Supported by a grant to the RISD Museum from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Professor Jeffrey Muller, his Mellon intern Nancy Kay, and Mariana Aguirre, Bob Brooker, Anne Heath, Andrea Lepage, Hope Saska, and Tanya Sheehan used visual clues to verify or challenge existing scholarship. In cases where very little was previously known, they reconnected the drawings to their obscured origins. For four months, the team conducted extensive research at universities and museums in the United States and abroad. Comparing the RISD drawings to works of the same time period, region, or subject from other collections helped to place them within their historical context. Since many drawings from this period are unsigned or have been inscribed at a later date by someone other than the artist, careful examination of the drawing techniques helped to determine the proper attributions. In most cases, this was done by literally observing the lines of a drawing under a magnifying glass, noting their signature style, and then relating that style to works in other collections. An examination of the drawings on a light table, under the microscope, or with ultraviolet light revealed further information on the specific tools and materials used in their creation. Consultations with experts who visited the RISD Museum also were important for confirming specific findings and hypotheses. The team's research yielded exciting results that often significantly revised existing scholarship. Share in the investigation by picking up a magnifying glass and exploring tehse images with your own eyes.

Selected Objects

Workshop of Hendrick Cornelisz. Vroom

Shipping off the Dutch Coast, 1620 - 1640
No Image Available

Unknown artist

Allegorical Figure, 1600s

Willem van Mieris

Galatea and Cupid, 1696 - 1702

Dutch or English

Imaginary Scene of a a Galley in a Mediterranean Harbor, 1650 - 1680

Ludolf Backhuysen I

Smalschip Recaulking on the Dutch Dunes, 1670 - 1690

Follower of Gilles van Coninxloo III

Wooded Mountain Landscape, Mid 1500s-Early 1600s

Attributed to Jan Lievensz.

Landscape with Springing Deer, ca. 1635

Unknown artist

Schoolroom Scene, 1700s

Unknown artist

Coastal Scene, 1800s

Flemish

Bacchus, late 1500s- mid 1600s

Flemish

Double-sided sheet: Recto: Six Figures Copied from Albrecht Dürer's Presentation of the Virgin; Verso: fragment of a portrait sketch, 1630 - 1640

Pieter Holsteyn II

Study of Hyacinths, 1600s

After Adriaen van Ostade

Tavern Interior, 1600s

Jacob Jordaens the Younger

Allegory, mid 1600s

Workshop of Jan Brueghel the Elder

Landscape with Two Windmills and a Town, after 1607

Follower of David Teniers II

Figure Study, 1600s-1700s

Jan de Bisschop

Mother and Child, after 1655

Pieter Withoos

Study of Four Butterflies and a Bumblebee, ca. 1680

Dutch

Studies of Butterflies and Insects, late 1600s-early 1700s

More objects +

Exhibition Checklist

Under the Magnifying Glass : Dutch and Flemish Drawings from the Museum's Collection

September 22, 2000 - January 14, 2001
View Checklist PDF

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