This symposium will take place at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Day 1) and at the RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague (Day 2). The event has been jointly organised by the RKD, Rijksmuseum and Leiden University.
The year 2017 marks the 75th anniversary of the groundbreaking publication of Horst Gerson’s Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts. This milestone offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on the international context of Netherlandish art, a major theme in current research programs of the organizing institutions. In ‘Masters of Mobility’ the particular focus is on cultural exchange between the Low Countries and the German lands.
Masters of Mobility
The Low Countries made a major contribution to the development of art in Europe in the long 17th century. Apart from Italian art, it was the art of the Netherlands that formed a model for artists and clients in Europe in order to elevate the status of their local art and culture to a higher level and as a promotional strategy. Art from the Low Countries – paintings, drawings, prints, tapestries, sculpture and architecture – was known for its quality and therefore constituted a popular ‘brand’.
The symposium focuses on the mobility, networks and activities of Dutch and Flemish artists in the German lands and vice versa and on the nature of the cultural exchange with their German colleagues, clients and patrons at the courts and in the towns. Large quantities of data are collected in the databases of the RKD to – literally – ‘map’ the cultural exchange between the Low Countries and the German lands. During the symposium the annotated and illustrated digital English version of Horst Gerson’s chapter on Germany from his ‘Ausbreitung’ will be launched, as well as a new online feature in ‘RKD Explore’ that visualizes the mobility of artists.
At this symposium specialists from Belgium, Germany, the United States and The Netherlands will present a range of papers that will draw attention to different aspects of this cultural exchange in art history: artists’ and dealers’ travels and routes, artist’s education, networks, patronage, as well as styles and its implications for connoisseurship.
For more information, please see the program (in PDF) and the RKD website.