Lines of Beauty: Master Drawings from Chatsworth

This exhibition showed 50 works from one of the UK’s most significant collections of Old Master drawings. It featured works by Carpaccio, Poussin, Rembrandt, Rubens, Van Dyck and more and was the largest display of drawings from the collection in over twenty years.

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, the drawings form part of regular changing public displays at their Chatsworth home. 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

Curated by Sheffield Museums in partnership with Chatsworth, this exhibition marked the first time the drawings, which represent some of the highlights of The Devonshire Collections, have been seen in Sheffield since 1966. 

This exhibition was generously sponsored by CMS Law