How is a work of art made? How does an artist progress from the initial idea to the finished masterpiece? That is the question addressed by this winter’s major exhibition at SMK.

Rembrandt, Edgar Degas, Nicolai Abildgaard, Bertel Thorvaldsen, Christen Købke, P.S. Krøyer and many more. You can examine the works and methods of some of the greatest figures of art history in this winter’s major special exhibition at SMK. 

The book delves into the methods used by various artists, giving you rare insight into the artistic process right from the initial ideas to the fully finished work. A stellar selection of major masterpieces accompanied by rarely-seen sketches and studies allows you to trace the artists’ works and methods, exploring why and how these works ended up looking as they do.

More than 150 drawings, prints and paintings from the 15th to the 20th century enable you to scrutinise the links between sketches and finished artworks, exploring how artistic creativity has unfolded itself in different ways through the ages.

The book is based on the lifelong study of Old Master drawings conducted by Chris Fischer, senior researcher and head of SMK’s Centre for Advanced Studies in Master Drawings.

Fischer is an internationally acclaimed scholar within the field of master drawings and has arranged exhibitions at institutions such as the Louvre in Paris and the Uffizi in Florence. He is the world’s foremost researcher on the work of the Italian Renaissance artist Fra Bartolommeo, who ranks alongside Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo as one of the four pre-eminent artists of the High Renaissance.