Rare Rubens work goes on show

The sketches provide an insight into Rubens' skill

A major exhibition of rare work by 17th Century Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens is to open on Saturday.

The display at London's Somerset House includes sketches, drawings and paintings unseen since the baroque artist's death in 1640.

The sketches are regarded as some of the Flemish master's most compelling and revealing work and used as models for his pupils.

Rubens' contemporaries saw him as Europe's greatest living painter and his success led to the sale of most of the sketches after his death.

"The oil sketches occupy a pivotal position in Rubens' art," said curator Ernst Vegelin van Claerbergen.

"Early collectors of his work greatly admired them, and their jewel-like colours make them a joy to look at."

The exhibition, Peter Paul Rubens: A Touch of Brilliance, was made possible through the collaboration of the Courtauld Gallery - which is based at Somerset House - and the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, owners of most of the pieces.

The completed Descent From the Cross is one of Rubens' greatest works

Included in the show are preparatory paintings for grand works such as Rubens' paintings on the ceilings at Banqueting House in Whitehall, London.

Also on display will be the sketches that eventually became Rubens' work in the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, Belgium, which was destroyed by fire in 1718.

Similarly, there will be five preparatory works for the Medici Cycle paintings, now in the Louvre in Paris.

There will also be sketches used to plan single masterpieces such as The Conversion of Saint Paul, The Descent from the Cross and The Assumption of the Virgin.

"They give a wonderful insight into how his mind worked," added Mr van Claerbergen.

The exhibition opens at Somerset House on Saturday and runs to 8 February.