Gravure en clair-obscur: Cranach, Raphaël, Rubens

Abstract

Bringing together in an unprecedented way nearly 120 prints preserved in the most important Parisian collections (Edmond de Rothschild collection, Louvre museum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Custodia and Beaux-Arts Foundation of Paris), as well as emblematic loans from French museums ( Museum of Fine Arts Besançon) and foreign (British Museum, Ashmolean Museum and Rijksmuseum), the exhibition traces both a technique and a particular aesthetic of the print: the engraving in chiaroscuro, also called in color. It offers a chronological and geographical panorama through the masterpieces engraved by or after the greatest masters of the Renaissance and European Mannerism, such as Cranach, Raphael, Peter Paul Rubens, Parmigianino, Domenico Beccafumi or Hans Baldung Grien. The exhibition is based on a scientific research project, funded by the Patrima Foundation, which focuses on the analysis of pigments and dyes in about 40 chiaroscuro engravings and collaborates with the Louvre Museum, the BnF and the Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France (C2RMF).