The more than thousand prints in the Betz collection, acquired by Villa Vauban in 2020, will be restored, inventoried and presented in themed exhibitions, accompanied by artistic and cultural mediation experiences.

The Villa on Paper project examines the idea of engraving as a medium that democratizes access to culture and the arts. Printmaking, which produces multiple copies of the same image, often occupies a secondary position in museums and exhibitions in comparison to painting or drawing, which produce unique works. The exhibitions in the Villa on Paper project seek to go against this common judgment by showcasing a collection of prints in a new light. The aim is to explore a print cabinet's artistic and cultural mediation potential in a 21st century art museum setting.

The project includes the restoration and scientific study of the collection. The thousand or so prints in the Betz collection will be restored in stages, while the collection will be inventoried and scientifically documented. A series of small-format exhibitions will present different thematic selections from among the vast collection.

Animals in Print - 14 July to 14 January 2024 at the Villa Vauban in Luxembourg

The first temporary exhibition of some sixty prints focuses on the representation of animals in graphic art from the 17th to the 19th century:

"Driven by a scientific interest in the animal world, the artists of the Dutch “Golden Age” tried to depict animals as lifelike as possible. In the exhibition, numerous prints by Paulus Potter (1625–1654), Nicolaes Visscher I (1618–1679), Karel Dujardin (1622–1678) and Adriaen van de Velde (1636–1672), among others, mainly show domestic animals: cattle, horses, goats and sheep. Works by Pieter Gerardus van Os (1776–1839) illustrate the extent to which the 17th century influenced the depictions of animals by later engravers." - source Villa Vauban

Le paradis terrestre -  5 July to 27 October 2024 at the Villa Vauban, Luxembourg

The paradis terrestre exhibition takes us on a journey to idyllic worlds: ‘paradise (biblical), the ideal ancient landscape of Arcadia, mythological and philosophical representations and pastoral scenes from the south of France. The pictorial messages, sometimes enigmatic for today's viewer, contribute to the fascination of these representations.

The engravings are based on works by illustrious artists such as Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606/07-1669) and Marten de Vos (1532-1603). There are also landscapes based on works by the French Baroque painter Claude Lorrain (1604/05-1682), who lived in Rome for many years and made a decisive contribution to the development of landscape painting as an artistic genre in its own right. Artists such as Abraham Bloemart (1566-1651) and his pupil Jan Both (1615/22-1652), one of the Dutch Italianists, drew inspiration from Lorrain's works while creating their own pictorial worlds. -Source: Villa Vauban