From the RKD website, 6 May 2014
Third Hofstede de Groot lecture by Maryan W. Ainsworth (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
On 24 June 2014, the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) will be presenting the third Hofstede de Groot lecture. The Hofstede de Groot Lectures were set up by the RKD in order to turn the spotlight on art historians who have conducted groundbreaking research into Dutch art. The forthcoming lecture, titled ‘Jan Gossart’s Trip to Rome and his Route to Paragone’, will be given by Maryan W. Ainsworth. Ainsworth is Curator of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and specialises in early Netherlandish painting. The text of the lecture will be published and will be available after the event.
The Hofstede de Groot Lectures are named after the art historian Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), whose art-historical documentation forms the basis for the RKD collection.
As in previous years, there will be drinks afterwards to celebrate.
Date: Tuesday 24 June 2014
Time: tea and coffee served from 3.30 p.m.; lecture begins at 4 p.m.
Admission: €15 including the lecture publication (available after the event)
Venue: Auditorium (National Library complex), Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5, The Hague
Language: English
Registration through the RKD website
Jan Gossart’s 1508 trip to Italy and the first-hand opportunity to study both modern and antique Italian sculpture en route and in Rome had a profound effect on his approach to his paintings. Soon after his return to the Low Countries, Gossart began to assimilate the aesthetic form of rilievo schiacciato and low relief sculptures in certain works in an initial dialogue with Italian Renaissance and ancient sculptors. Simultaneously, he experimented with ways to integrate the antique sculptures he had recorded in drawings for Philip of Burgundy into his compositions. In an increasingly sophisticated approach, Gossart incorporated novel perspective schemes, advanced methods of modeling his figures, and changes to his painting technique in order to rival and even surpass the achievements of sculpture in his paintings.