Text description provided by the architects.Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid both have unique collections of oil sketches by Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577-Antwerp 1640).

For years they have shared a wish to bring together the finest works from their collections and complement them with masterpieces from other museums to create an unprecedented overview.

Rubens was the master of the oil sketch. He was the first artist to prepare a great many of his important compositions by painting sketches on panel. Whereas Rubens’s large works are sometimes described as hackwork in part because of the contributions often made by assistants the brilliant virtuoso – almost impressionistic – touch of the master himself is always present in his oil sketches.

鲁本斯为准备其作品而在画板上绘制的草图画幅相对较小 。 这些草图均由他亲手绘制 ， 与最终成形的大型画作相比 ， 草图要小很多 。 当这些草图被放置在最终完成的作品旁时 ， 也使得这些大型的画作不可避免的获得了最多的关注 。