The summer exhibition at the Grafisches Kabinett brings the magic of Italy to Mainz and turns its focus on the Eternal City. Since the late 15th century, generations of artists have been drawn across the Alps to Italy. Some stayed only a few days or weeks, while others settled there for years. To this day, Rome continues to exert an unbroken pull with its unique blend of art and culture from antiquity, the Renaissance, and the Baroque, its Mediterranean climate, and its diverse natural landscape.
The cabinet exhibition follows artists from Germany, the Netherlands, and France over the past 400 years to the city on the Tiber, but also showcases Italian artists’ perspectives on the metropolis. Drawings executed with pen, quill, or brush served as a source of motifs, were produced as study sheets, for documentation, or as standalone drawings for collectors. Views engraved or etched in copper spread rapidly throughout Europe and shaped the image of the city as a place of longing—somewhere between archaeological precision, exaggerated imagination, and artistic virtuosity.
The cabinet exhibition follows artists from Germany, the Netherlands, and France over the past 400 years to the city on the Tiber, but also showcases Italian artists’ perspectives on the metropolis. Drawings executed with pen, quill, or brush served as a source of motifs, were produced as study sheets, for documentation, or as standalone drawings for collectors. Views engraved or etched in copper spread rapidly throughout Europe and shaped the image of the city as a place of longing—somewhere between archaeological precision, exaggerated imagination, and artistic virtuosity.
