Connoisseurship: Between Intuition and Science? by Ron Spronk
Technical Art Historian at Queen’s University, Kingston and Jheronimus Bosch Chair at Radboud University Nijmegen
Presentation – Text

In this brief statement, Ron Spronk will illustrate that connoisseurship and the technical study of art works are not situated in an oppositional or even complementary relationship. Rather, many similarities between these approaches can be identified, as well as a surprising level of overlap.

About Ron Spronk
Technical art historian Ron Spronk teaches at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and at Radboud University in Nijmegen. Among his publications are two award-winning books: Mondrian: The Transatlantic Paintings (with Harry Cooper) was awarded the 2002 CAA/Heritage Preservation Award, and Prayers and Portraits, Unfolding the Netherlandish Diptych (with John Hand and Cathy Metzger) received the 2007 Wittenborn Memorial Book Award. From 2010 to 2012, he coordinated the technical documentation campaign of the Ghent Altarpiece and the web application Closer to Van Eyck. He is a member of the interdisciplinary Bosch Research and Conservation Project, and is currently co-curating Pieter Bruegel; The Hand of the Master for the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien.