By Joëlle Daems, Information Specialist Rijksmuseum Research Library and Study Room Prints & Drawings

On a crisp spring evening, just as the buds of the cherry blossoms were beginning to open in the Rijksmuseum gardens, the lights were still shining through the leaded windows of the Rijksmuseum Research Library. After closing time, we welcomed the British Museum patrons on the occasion of the exhibition Early Netherlandish Drawings 1400-1600, curated by Olenka Horbatsch and Charlotte Wytema, which opened on the 16^th of April 2026 at the British Museum. The exhibition is the result of a five-year research project into the British Museum’s collection of early Netherlandish drawings: more than 1200 works that had not been systematically studied since Arthur Ewart Popham’s catalogue of 1932. Ilona van Tuinen, Head of the Rijksmuseum Print Room, gave a tour of the Gallery of Honour, while curator Austėja Mackelaitė, together with curator Olenka Horbatsch, welcomed the patrons in the Cuypers Library.

Following an introduction by Austėja, Olenka guided the group through a selection of early Netherlandish drawings. With great enthusiasm, she told us about the production of drawings in the Low Countries in relation to Germany and Italy. Her talk was engaging for both specialists and those less familiar with the subject. Beginning in the fifteenth century, she gradually led us towards 1600. In doing so, we moved from drawings that were primarily functional, often produced in workshops and unsigned, to works that were increasingly seen as autonomous works of art.

As a starting point, Olenka discussed a drawing from the circle of Dirk Bouts, explaining that it was likely produced in a workshop and used by a painter or sculptor. Such drawings were reused, which meant that certain stylistic features persisted, even when elements such as clothing had already become somewhat outdated. Lucas van Leyden, of course, could not be left out: Olenka showed us Standing Boy with Sword, which he created at the age of fourteen. Far fewer drawings and prints by Van Leyden have survived than those by Albrecht Dürer, even though the two artists were active at the same time, because Van Leyden’s works were simply not collected or preserved.

Olenka then presented a number of circular drawings by, among others, Pieter Cornelisz. Kunst and Jan de Beer, often made as designs for painted glass. She also emphasised the use of paper prepared with colour, as glass painters work by adding light and dark tones to a mid-tone ground, making the designs easier to follow and execute.

With Jan Swart van Groningen, Olenka pointed to a first shift in the function and perception of drawings in the Netherlands: they gradually acquired the status of autonomous works of art. After that, Olenka showed a beautiful work by the renowned Hendrik Goltzius, who drew inspiration from Italian art, before presenting perhaps the strongest link between the British Museum’s and the Rijksmuseum’s collections of early Netherlandish drawings: a drawing by Goltzius’s pupil Jacques de Gheyn II, marking both the end of one tradition and the beginning of another. The Rijksmuseum holds the sketch, while the British Museum preserves the finished drawing.

It was a true pleasure to welcome Dr Horbatsch and the British Museum patrons to the Rijksmuseum Research Library and we look forward to the exhibition that opened on the 16th of April 2026. Are you interested in consulting the Rijksmuseum’s Early Netherlandish Drawings? You can make an appointment at the Study Room Prints and Drawings via this form. Here you can find the list of drawings discussed by Olenka. You are also welcome to visit the Rijksmuseum Research Library, where you can find a wide range of literature on early Netherlandish drawings via our library catalogue. We hope to welcome you in the future!