Less than a year after a major refurbishment, the Courtauld Gallery has already had exhibitions of two of the biggest names in early modern art. There’s not much to rival Vincent van Gogh or Edvard Munch for raw power. Pieter Bruegel the Elder might have the same name recognition, but the nature of his work couldn’t be more different. Instead of flurries of colour and indications of imminent mental collapse, the Courtauld presents Traces: Renaissance Drawings for Flemish Prints.
These are very small works in a very small room. To drive home the intimacy, a box of magnifying glasses greets visitors at the gallery entrance. This is the world of the antiquarian study rather than the plutocrat’s yacht. It’s a retreat into a realm of reflection. So much so, it feels like an intrusion when one of the few other visitors gets too close to one’s magnification zone.
