‘Drawn to Life: Master Drawings from the Age of Rembrandt’ at the Ackland Art Museum

Fri, Sep 23 - Sat, Dec 31  2022

The exhibition ‘Drawn to Life: Master Drawings from the Age of Rembrandt‘ opens on September 23 at the Ackland Art Museum in North Carolina. Many of the 70 exceptional Dutch drawings from the 17th century by Rembrandt and his pupils have previously been unpublished or rarely exhibited.

About the Exhibition

Drawn to Life brings together a broad selection of images depicting landscapes, everyday life, portraits, preparatory studies, and biblical and historical scenes, forming a dynamic and representative group of drawings made by some of the most outstanding artists of the period. Drawings by well-known artists, such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan van Goyen, Adriaen van Ostade, Ferdinand Bol, Nicolaes Maes, Jan Lievens, and Gerard ter Borch, among others, appear alongside sheets by lesser-known artists like Guillam Du Bois, Herman Naiwincx, Willem Romeyn, and Jacob van der Ulft.

Drawn to Life is the first major exhibition of the Peck Collection since its donation by the late Drs. Sheldon and Leena Peck. The Pecks’ transformative gift of over 130 largely 17th- and 18th-century Dutch and Flemish drawings in 2017 established the Ackland as one of a handful of university art museums in the United States where scholars and students can study northern European drawings in depth.  Following its run at the Ackland, Drawn to Life will travel to the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam from March 18-June 11, 2023.

Jacques de Gheyn II (1565-1629), Sor­cer­ess with a Quill Pen, ca. 1610-1620, Courtesy of the Peck Collection.

Abraham Bloemaert (1566-1651), Studies of Putti, ca. 1590-1600, pen and brown ink and brown wash on paper, Courtesy of the Peck Collection