From 7 March to 9 June 2025, the Albertina presents the exhibition “Leonardo – Dürer Renaissance grasp drawings on coloured floor”
Supply: Albertina · Picture: Leonardo da Vinci, “Half-Size Determine of an Apostle”, 1493-95 (element)
Within the Libro dell’Arte, the well-known treatise on portray, Cennino Cennini described drawing in mild and darkish on coloured backgrounds round 1400 as “il principio e la porta del colorire”, the start and the gateway to portray. A century later, Leonardo would good the method in his grandiose research of nature. Albrecht Dürer adopted his instance with sheets such because the Praying Fingers, one of the vital well-known works within the artwork of drawing. With Leonardo’s and Dürer’s works, the examine in chiaroscuro was lastly acknowledged as a extremely synthetic artwork style.
Whereas the chiaroscuro drawing had a agency place within the work course of in Italy, it was favored north of the Alps for delicate scenic depictions from the mid-Fifteenth century onwards. These had been by no means design drawings, however treasured showpieces. Excellent examples of this are sheets by Albrecht Altdorfer, Hans Baldung Grien and eventually Dürer’s well-known Inexperienced Ardour. The numerous topics from historical past, mythology and in style beliefs alone show that the artists had been focusing on the needs of a brand new, educated clientele.
The ALBERTINA Museum’s exhibition makes use of fastidiously chosen works from its personal holdings and topclass loans from worldwide collections as an example the features of coloration floor drawings within the South and the North, the expressive prospects the method supplied artists and the hyperlinks to up to date printmaking. It should provide guests a particular aesthetic pleasure and disclose to laymen and connoisseurs alike how grasp draughtsmen similar to Leonardo and Dürer pushed the door to portray huge open and crossed the brink to artwork for artwork’s sake.
