Dürer to Van Dyck: these marvellous drawings surprise and enthral

Hans Holbein the Younger's Portrait of a Youth in a Broad-brimmed Hat, c.1525
Detail from Hans Holbein the Younger’s Portrait of a Youth in a Broad-brimmed Hat, c.1525 - The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth

This beautifully presented new exhibition – hosted by the National Galleries of Scotland at the Royal Scottish Academy – features some 50 drawings and watercolours spanning the 16th to 18th centuries from the likes of Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein and Peter Paul Rubens. The works of celebrated Flemish, Dutch and German artists, nearly all of which are getting their first outing in Scotland, have been selected from the private collection of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire, one of the most important and impressive collections of Old Master drawings in the world. With the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace currently hosting an exhibition on the drawings of the Italian Renaissance (including those of the masters Raphael, Leonardo and Michelangelo), this show comes along at an interesting time.

Expertly curated by Northern European art specialist Tico Seifert, Dürer to Van Dyck speaks to the great variety of purposes in drawing, from experiments in style, to preparations for paintings, and detailed statements of virtuosity.

The German artist Adam Elsheimer’s tiny, bleakly Gothic drawing of Salome Receiving the Head of John the Baptist (c.1601-03), for instance, is a wonderful assertion of craft. Drawn in opaque, monochromatic watercolour, this piece (which is little bigger than a credit card) is extraordinarily detailed for its modest size. It demands that we peer beyond the gloom to witness the macabre aftermath of the beheading in all of its gruesome aspect. A drawing (c.1605-08) by Dutch artist Hendrick Goudt, which is inspired directly by Elsheimer’s picture, provides a fascinating point of comparison. The Dutchman’s take on the Bible scene is abundantly lighter in palette and considerably cleaner in presentation.

There is, thanks to a number of the artists’ penchants for adding watercolour to their drawings, a surprising amount of colour in this show. Lion Mask (c.1570) by the Swiss-German artist Jost Amman is a startling case in point. The picture is an idealised (almost anthropomorphised) image of the face of a lion (a creature that Amman may only have seen in representation). Superbly sketched, the entirety of this postcard-sized drawing is washed strikingly in dark red watercolour.

Jost Amman's Lion Mask, c.1570
Jost Amman’s Lion Mask, c.1570 - The Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth.

Amman’s lion is just one of many animal sketches on display. The great Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck’s drawing titled Head and Forequarters of a Grey Horse (c.1618) – which became a study for a painting – stands in notable contrast to the German’s glorified subject. Here, in brilliantly applied chalk, is an exact study in nature and movement. The head of the horse is lowered as it appears almost to move towards us, the sinews of its forequarters seemingly in powerful motion.

The picture provides a memorable expression of Van Dyck’s excellence. The same is true of drawings by other big name artists, such as Holbein’s Portrait of a Youth in a Broad-brimmed Hat (c.1525), in which the artist applies coloured chalks and watercolour to add verisimilitude to a monochrome image. Rubens’s A Peasant Girl Churning Butter (c.1617-19), meanwhile, captures a dignity in labour.

Of the Chatsworth collection’s 21 drawings by the Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn, nine are on display here. Famously, Rembrandt never strayed beyond the borders of what was then the Dutch Republic. A number of the drawings displayed in this exhibition are reflections of his walks in the countryside around Amsterdam. Two drawings of the Amsteldijk (drawn between 1645 and 1650) offer a fascinating insight into the artist’s methods. The first (a simple pen and ink drawing) seems – as Seifert suggests – to have been drawn on location. The second – executed, presumably, in Rembrandt’s studio – is a more detailed image of the same scene. A windmill and a sailing boat have been added to the vista, and a brown wash applied to the picture.

These exquisite drawings from Rembrandt’s lesser-known strand of landscape works exemplify the capacity of this marvellous and diverse exhibition to both enthral and surprise.

Until February 23, 2025: nationalgalleries.org