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Tuesday, 17 March 2026

Artlyst: Bruegel To Rembrandt Drawing The Rise of Naturalism Compton Verney

My latest exhibition review for Artlyst is on ‘Bruegel to Rembrandt: Drawing Life, Sketching Wonder’ at Compton Verney:

'‘Patience’ shows naturalistic drawing utilised in the service of fantastical moral fables, while ‘Prudence’ shows the same style utilised in the service of realist moral fables. This shift from a focus on a fantastical demonic scene to a realistic rural scene in which, ‘as now, people look for a sense of control in times of uncertainty – preparing for harder days, these peasants store food and money, repair dilapidated buildings, and gather firefighting equipment’ – is part artistic, part social and part theological.

Religion plays a significant role throughout the changes explored and the genres displayed. An exquisitely illustrated 16th-century Flemish Book of Hours illuminates the relationship between prayer books and the depiction of everyday country life across the Netherlands in this period. However, a secularising element can also be seen, particularly when the Biblical content is minimised within an image to focus on the landscape in which the scene is set. An example of this tendency can be seen in Abraham Bloemaert’s ‘Landscape with the Prodigal Son’, where Bloemaert’s interest is mainly with the dilapidated house or barn against which the miniscule Prodigal leans and the living trees that the barn is built around.'


My other pieces for Artlyst are:

Interviews -
Monthly diary articles -
Articles/Reviews -

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Posted by Jonathan Evens at 18:24
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