The first exhibition ever to focus on the multiple connections between drawing and printmaking, this presentation brings together around 90 works on paper by some of the greatest artists in the Western tradition to uncover the inner workings of their creative process and offer new ways to think about the links between the two mediums.

Featuring fascinating drawings and exceptional prints from the late 15th century through the mid-19th century by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Parmigianino, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Maria Sibylla Merian, Francisco Goya, and William Blake, the exhibition explores the creative exchange between the two practices by showcasing preparatory drawings for prints, printed imitations of drawings, and drawn copies of prints. A selection of hybrid works also questions traditional definitions, strict boundaries, and outdated hierarchical distinctions between media.

Among the many remarkable loans enriching the exhibition are two astonishing drawings of a right hand by Hendrick Goltzius, which will be shown alongside each other for the first time in over a generation. Additionally an impressive drawing by Rembrandt of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper makes its Chicago debut.

With a wealth of exceptionally beautiful works, Lines of Connection offers fresh perspectives on two intertwined mediums and lifts the curtain on the rarely foregrounded subjects of artistic training, workshop practices, and the afterlife and collecting of works on paper.

Lines of Connection: Drawing and Printmaking is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the J. Paul Getty Museum. 

Art Institute of Chicago from March 15 – June 1, 2025

The Getty from July 1 – September 14, 2025

SPONSORS
Major support for Lines of Connection: Drawing and Printmaking, 1400–1850 is provided by the WOLFGANG RATJEN FOUNDATION, Liechtenstein.
Additional support is contributed by an anonymous donor.

Image:
(Left) Hendrick Goltzius, Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan, about 1585. Ink on paper. Paul Getty Museum, 84.GG.810.1
(Right) Hendrick Goltzius, Mars and Venus Surprised by Vulcan, 1585. Engraving. The Art Institute of Chicago, Charles Hack and the Hearn Family Trust Collection, purchased with funds provided by the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial, Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston, anonymous, and Suzanne Searle Dixon endowment funds