Copper as Canvas : Two Centuries of Masterpiece Paintings on Copper, 1575-1775

From December 1998, approximately 100 of the most important and best-preserved examples of paintings on copper from collections in the US, Europe, and South America, along with displays of copper mining and copper ores, and copper objects and printing plates from the period, were exhibited at the Phoenix Art Museum, travelling next to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and then to the Royal Cabinet of Paintings Mauritshuis in The Hague. The artform of painting on copper dates back to the mid-16th century, when European artists found that the smooth surfaces of thin sheets of copper lent themselves to fine workmanship, were easy to handle, and even gave a luminous shine to the paint. Masters including Jan Breughel the Elder, Claude, El Greco, Reni, Guercino, Rembrandt, and Vernet are among those who produced fine works on copper. This collection brings together 100 full-colour and sixty-five black and white reproductions of these paintings, each accompanied by a detailed entry, as well an interdisciplinary range of essays covering the history of painting on copper.