The Steinmetz Cabinet
The Bruges collection of prints and drawings—traditionally known as the Steinmetz Cabinet—is, with regards to scope and diversity, the largest discrete collection of the Groeninge Museum in Bruges. Because works on paper are not permanently exhibited due to their high level of light sensitivity, this collection is lesser known to the public than the reference collection of paintings.
For more than a decade, works from this collection have been presented to the public via exhibitions and temporary collection presentations on the ground floor of the Arentshuis and sometimes in the galleries of the Groeninge Museum. In addition to a few important loan exhibitions (The Age of Titian (2003) and Stradanus (2008)) and the European Biennial for Graphic Art, there were also smaller presentations.
The important collection of drawings from the Neo-Classicists was not only exhibited during the exposition, Joseph Benoît Suvée and neo-classicism in Europe, in Bruges and Enschede but also figured prominently in Luc Tuymans’ exhibition The Forbidden Empire at BOZAR in Brussels and the prestigious Palace Museum in Peking. An exhibition with prints dedicated to Albrecht Dürer was to be seen in the Arentshuis and an other presentation dealt with prints by Rembrandt and his time.
