WOKING.- A major new exhibition featuring more than 60 Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth’s extraordinary collection, second only to the Queen’s in its remarkable scope and quality, opened in Woking in August 2021.

Featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and more, Lines of Beauty: Master Drawings from Chatsworth is the largest exhibition of these rare wonders for more than twenty years.

On display at The Lightbox, Woking from 21 August 2021 as part of a new exhibition partnership between Chatsworth, The Lightbox, Woking, and Sheffield Museums, the exhibition is a rare opportunity to experience the vibrancy and emotional power of the works up close.

Curated by The Lightbox and Sheffield Museums in partnership with Chatsworth, this new exhibition at The Lightbox brings together 64 drawings from the Devonshire Collections. Amassed by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Dukes of Devonshire, the Chatsworth collection of Old Master drawings comprises around 1,800 works by some of the most important artists of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

When the collection was originally established over 300 years ago, viewing of these works would have been reserved for the social elites of the time. Today, a small selection of drawings is normally displayed on rotation in the purpose-built Old Master Drawings Cabinet created in 2012 at Chatsworth.

Opportunities to see them en masse remain limited due to the need to safeguard these delicate works on paper from light damage. As such, only a small selection of works is usually available to view at any one time.

Among the drawings on display at The Lightbox are:

Works by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), including his pen and ink drawing, An actor, William Ruyter, in his studio (circa 1638). Rembrandt is widely considered one of the most important artists in the history of western art and the most critically acclaimed painter of the Dutch Golden Age.

Drawings in pen and ink with chalk and watercolour by Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), one of the most prominent Flemish painters of the 17th century, who painted for King Charles I.

Nicolas Poussin’s (1594–1665) The Rape of the Sabines (circa 1633), one of a number of preparatory drawings depicting the story from Roman mythology. Poussin’s two paintings of the subject are held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and the Louvre, Paris.

Lines of Beauty: Master Drawings from Chatsworth opened at the Lightbox Woking on 21 August 2021 and continues to 5 December 2021. Entry to the Lightbox costs £7.50 for a day pass.