Enfilade

On view this week in Bruges:

Seven Works from the Van Caloen Collection
Groeninge Museum, Bruges, 17–22 May 2022

François Boucher, Young Woman with a Lace Cap, 24 × 18 cm (Musea Brugge, 2022.GRO0326.II).

On 17 May, the Jean van Caloen Foundation transferred the administration of 1,920 drawing masterpieces and 25 sketchbooks by world famous artists like Michelangelo, Jordaens, and Boucher to the Bruges Print Room. To celebrate this exceptional transfer, we are exhibiting seven top works from the collection during an exclusive sneak preview in the Groeninge Museum together with the Caloen Foundation.

Discover The Priest’s Blessing by Jacques Jordaens and a fine depiction of a young woman by the French master François Boucher. The highlight of the collection is the magnificent Stoning of St. Stephen by Michelangelo Buonarotti. The only drawing of the celebrated Italian Renaissance artist currently held in Belgium, it is a remarkable piece, not least because it is a composition study: a drawing in which Michelangelo set down some of his ideas on paper. Drawings of this kind were used by artists as preparatory sketches for larger final works, such as paintings or sculptures.

The works will be on display from 17 to 22 May, after which they will be given a place with all the collection’s other works in the Bruges Print Room. Once there, they will be registered and digitalized in high resolution, before being made freely available to the public via Musea Brugge’s digital collection database. We will also thoroughly investigate and study the drawings. This research will result in the publication of a scientific catalogue for the collection and an exhibition of works from the collection in the new exhibition space at BRUSK.