The Plantin printing house needed designs to illustrate books. Over the centuries, the drawings literally piled up. Today, the Print Room has more than 80,000 prints and drawings: a blueprint of five centuries of graphic art in Antwerp.
Today, the Print Cabinet is one of the fifty most important collections in the world. From master drawings by Jordaens, Rubens and Van Dyck to modern prints by Leys, Ensor and Tuymans, the collection is a blueprint of five centuries of graphic art in Belgium. No fewer than 1,000 drawings are on the Flemish Masterpieces List.
What once began as a purely functional stock of illustrations grew into an autonomous and high-profile art collection. Thanks to targeted purchases, donations and bequests, Max Rooses, as the very first curator, set the tone: with a focus on the Antwerp School from the 16th to the 20th century, and every prominent artist with a link to the city. Max Rooses saw the Print Cabinet not only as a repository of the past, but also encouraged the graphic arts of his own time. We continue to do so today.
The Print Cabinet houses over 20,000 old prints, 300 print albums, and more than 5,000 drawings, all older than the 1800s. They bring the best of Antwerp’s art scene from the 16th and 17th centuries back to life, including works by Bruegel and baroque masters Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens. Iconic prints such as the Monster Calf or Vergilius Bononiensis' famous City Map of Antwerp cannot be found anywhere else in the world.
The sculptors’ drawings are another highlight, especially the Charles Van Herck collection. These items shape the most comprehensive study archive for 17th and 18th-century Baroque sculpture in the Southern Lowlands. Antwerp’s extensive iconography is especially fascinating, thoroughly capturing the city and its history.
In addition, Antwerp's extensive iconography presents a fascinating picture of the city and its history.
The contemporary section of the Print Cabinet houses no fewer than 26,000 prints, 18,000 drawings, and x picture books from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Modern themes, techniques, and styles align with the traditional Antwerp graphics. Artists such as Henri De Braekeleer, James Ensor, Rik Wouters and Marthe Donas illustrate the evolution of art through subtle observations and achingly honest societal criticisms.
The collection combines individual masterpieces and a series of drawings that reveal the creative process. Eye-catchers include the Verhaeren collection, reflecting the close connection between literature and visual arts, expressionist works by Frans Masereel and the modernism of Jozef Peeters and Jos Léonard. Antwerp is never too far away: the city’s iconography remains recurrent.
Who takes care of these treasures?
