The King Baudouin Foundation has loaned its book of Rubens’s theoretical drawings for the exhibition Rubens & Women at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. 

Acquired by the King Baudouin Foundation in 2012, the Ganay Manuscript is part of the four known copies of the Antwerp master’s original autograph notebook that was destroyed in a fire in 1720. This precious document shows the vision and theoretical conceptions used by Rubens regarding the proportions of the human body, symmetry, perspective, anatomy and architecture.

The work is therefore perfectly suited to be part of the exhibition Rubens & Women organised by the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, which is presenting a historical re-evaluation of how Rubens represented women. The exhibition will be the first to challenge the generally accepted idea that Rubens only painted one type of woman, by providing another, more nuanced, vision of this artist, who painted more portraits of his wives and children than almost any other artist. The exhibition reveals the varied and important place of women, whether real or imaginary, in his universe.

Created in close partnership with the Rubens House in Antwerp, the exhibition will also include works loaned from private collections in Belgium that have never before been seen in the UK.

Practical information:
Rubens & Women
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Gallery Road
London SE21 7AD
Until 28 January 2024