Focus on the Peck Collection: Study Drawings

November 15, 2024 - February 9, 2025

Groupings of human figures dressed in flowing robes, individual figures, and closeup details of figures in brown ink on cream-colored paper

Drawing has long been considered the foundation of the visual arts in the Western tradition, playing a central role in artistic training, visual exploration, and creativity. This Focus on the Peck Collection installation focuses on three drawings by Dutch, Italian, and British artists of the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries that reveal the practice of artistic invention through the refinement of motifs in multiple iterations. Each drawing offers a glimpse into the artists’ creative processes, showcasing how drawings served as vital tools for experimentation and development.

Image credit:

Jacques de Gheyn III, Dutch, ca. 1596-1641, Figure Studies, c. 1620-30, pen and brown ink on paper, 6 15/16 × 9 7/16 in. (17.7 × 24 cm). The Peck Collection, 2017.1.37.