Past exhibitions

Mantegna, Rembrandt, Watteau, Gainsborough, Goya, Constable, Blake, Ingres, Delacroix, Manet, Cézanne, Degas, Klimt…

This is a rare chance to see works on paper by some of Europe’s greatest artists, which are usually kept in storage due to their sensitivity to light.

European prints and drawings 1500-1900 presents 150 outstanding works from the Art Gallery of NSW collection. On display for the first time is the recent acquisition Melencolia I by Albrecht Dürer, marking the 500th anniversary of this 1514 engraving – one of the most enigmatic images in Western art.

Charting some four centuries since the Renaissance, these works show the development of various graphic techniques and reveal the story of the graphic arts in Europe. The big subjects of European art and culture, and changing attitudes towards religion and faith, science and philosophy, power and politics, the individual and society, are all captured on paper.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of the first book on the Gallery’s European prints and drawings collection, opening a fascinating window into tradition and innovation in the graphic arts in Europe as well as the Gallery’s own history of collecting.

Note: The opening date for this exhibition has changed to 30 August 2014. The Gallery apologises for any inconvenience.

Images: details of Albrecht Dürer Melencolia I 1514, Jean-Honoré Fragonard Rinaldo in the gardens of Armida 1761-64, Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn The three trees 1643, Théodore Géricault The boxers 1818, Hendrick Goltzius Hercules and Cacus 1588