BILBAO.- The Guest Work programme is on this occasion a very special event featuring one of the most important painters in history through an exclusive selection of preparatory sketches for one of the most formidable painting collections of its time, that of the Torre de la Parada. In addition to this is another large preparatory sketch for one of the 20 tapestries destined for the Descalzas Reales monastery in Madrid. Finally, with regard to the sketches by Rubens on loan from the Bonnat-Helleu Museum in Bayonne, three reproduction etchings by Paulus Pontius (Antwerp, 1603–1658), belonging to a private collection, can also be seen.

Towards the end of his life, Rubens received the most important commission of his career from Philip IV: a series of around 115 large-scale paintings to adorn the Torre de la Parada, a hunting lodge on the outskirts of Madrid that the king wanted to expand and renovate. Rubens was one of the few artists of the time who was capable of creating a series of paintings of these characteristics and finishing them within a period of approximately two years. Considering the volume of work and the time required to complete them, at his Antwerp workshop Rubens decided to use the help of other Flemish artists. Before applying each one of his compositions onto canvas he conceptualised them in small sketches painted in oil on panels, which he produced himself, around 1636. Most of the depicted themes are mythological and inspired by Ovid’s Metamorphoses. As well as highlighting Rubens’s fertile imagination and technical mastery, the works are clear proof of his creative process and his sensitivity towards classical antiquity.




The seven sketches are now on display in the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum thanks to the support of Fundación Banco Santander and the scientific guidance of Alejandro Vergara, head of the Conservation of Flemish and Northern European Paintings until 1700 of the Prado Museum.

The collection of sketches is an excellent example of this important, yet unknown to the public, aspect of the Flemish painter’s work. They belong to a prolific period, in which Rubens worked at the service of the Spanish court. Six of them are consistent with the decoration of the Torre de la Parada and, in the middle of the eighteenth century, they remained in Spain owned by the Duke of the Infantado, along with another 50 sketches. Originating from this collection, they were then acquired by the Bayonne-born officer and explorer Victor-Bernard Derrécagaix (1833–1915) on his passing through the country. In 1921 it was his widow who formalised his legacy to the Bonnat-Helleu Museum, adding another sketch by Rubens, made for the tapestries of the Descalzas Reales monastery, which Derrécagaix had also acquired in Spain.

Regarded as the most outstanding painter of the seventeenth century in Europe and one of the most important in the whole of art history, one of the numerous virtues of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) lies in his mastery of sketches. Rubens’ work stood out in this facet, which is so crucial to understanding his creative process, for both his quality and quantity—he created around 500 copies, almost one-third of his total output. His sketches also transformed and outstripped the traditional concept of previous study, which he used as an exclusively paper-based medium. Rubens received a meticulous, polyglot, classical education which enabled him to feel at home in aristocratic milieus from a young age. During his sojourn in Italy serving as the Duke of Mantua’s chamber painter, he became familiar with the works of the Renaissance masters. In Spain, he showed his skill at creating grandiloquent portraits, and later in Antwerp he addressed religious themes with a splendour that has not yet been matched. His extensive output is due to his prodigious skill as a draughtsman and colourist, with unique expertise in capturing human anatomy and developing the broadest range of themes, and to the collaboration of the countless helpers working in his extensive atelier.

This selection of sketches is a good example of this facet of the Flemish painter that is so important yet so often overlooked by the public. They belong to a very prolific period in which he was serving the Spanish court. Six of them are related to the décor of the Torre de la Parada, and in the mid- eighteenth century they were in Spain thanks to the Duke of the Infantado, along with another 50 or so sketches. They come from this collection and were acquired by the officer and explorer from Bayonne, Victor-Bernard Derrécagaix (1833–1915), when he was travelling through the country. In 1921, his widow formalised their bequest to the Musée Bonnat-Helleu and added another Rubens sketch for one of the tapestries of the Descalzas Reales monastery, which Derrécagaix had also acquired in Spain