Bruegel to Rembrandt at Compton Verney: From Brussels to the English Countryside
- maxwell museums
- 8 hours ago
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Compton Verney's new exhibition Bruegel to Rembrandt: Drawing Life, Sketching Wonder presents remarkable old master drawings from the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium — and it's their first time in the UK. I preview these mesmerising artworks in Brussels before their journey to Warwickshire, alongside curator Jane Simpkiss.
50 masterpieces from some of the greatest artists to have ever lived can now be seen on British soil for the very first time.
The works are snapshots drawn from life. They’re exquisite 16th and 17th century drawings by the likes of Rubens, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Rembrandt.
I recently saw them up-close in Brussels before they made their debut journey across the English Channel.
In an unassuming back-of-house room on the top floor of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, over two dozen of these rare pieces had been brought out for my press trip party to see, just days before they were sealed up for their transport to Britain.
Two of the Rembrandt drawings are tiny. No bigger than postage stamps, they are quick sketches in black chalk of people he saw on the streets of Amsterdam around 1650.
He created them to “build up [a] bank of motifs which he could then use in other drawings, in prints or paintings” Jane Simpkiss told us, who has helped bring them to the UK.
Elsewhere in Belgium | Inside the Rubenshuis garden and Antwerp's forgotten tulip mania
Jane has curated a new exhibition of the Royal Museums’ drawings collection for Compton Verney in Warwickshire. It’s called Bruegel to Rembrandt: Drawing Life, Sketching Wonder and can be seen until 28 June.
Scenes of the everyday are the common thread. It’s particularly apparent in one of the show’s star objects — Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s original drawing Prudence, from his series of The Seven Virtues. It was created over 460 years ago and while allegorical, it presents vignettes inspired by real-world scenes that will have been recognisable to viewers at the time. And this ‘relatability’ — to use our horrible contemporary term — meant prints of the work were in high demand. It was a completely new form pioneering image — and a smart business decision.
After seeing these drawings, my group headed out to the public galleries of the Fine Art Museum to see paintings by these same masters, including Bruegel’s wonderful The Numbering at Bethlehem which transports the story of Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem to a recognisably-Netherlandish town. Here it’s the nativity made ‘relatable’.
Of course, a trip to Belgium to discover Old Master drawings had to also include a visit to Antwerp, one of Europe’s most significant cities in the history of art. It’s around 50 minutes away from the Belgian capital by train.
The city’s highlight is the Plantin-Moretus Museum, the UNESCO-listed museum, and home to the world’s oldest printing presses. It was from here artists such as Rubens saw their work disseminated across Europe. The museum’s collection of 80,000 prints and drawings makes it a must-see site to truly understand the Flemish masters. But these artists can be seen everywhere across the city too — from the towering gothic cathedral, to Antwerp’s own Royal Museum of Fine Arts, KMSKA.
“These artists captured life in all its beauty, struggle and complexity” Jane says. And writing in the exhibition’s accompanying catalogue, she believes the drawings she’s worked so closely with allow us “to look over the shoulder of some of the most significant artists in European art history.”
I can vouch that they are remarkable, and they reward up-close viewing.
I’d always recommend a trip to Belgium to see them. But this spring, take the unique opportunity to experience them in Britain while you can.
Bruegel to Rembrandt: Drawing Life, Sketching Wonder is at Compton Verney until 28 June 2026. The exhibition (and my trip) is supported by VISIT FLANDERS
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