Unfortunately we had to cancel the CODARTfocus Middelburg. It is no longer possible to register. Participants will be informed by email. For further questions, please contact the CODART office on events@codart.nl.
On Thursday 21 March, CODART is collaborating with the Zeeuws Museum to organize a CODARTfocus meeting to accompany the exhibition The Inverted World of Adriaen van de Venne. Though relatively unknown to the general public, Van de Venne is one of the most original and versatile artists of the Netherlands of the seventeenth century. The show includes loans from the Rijksmuseum – a partner in this exhibition – the Mauritshuis, the Museum of Art and History in Brussels, the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen, and private collections from the Netherlands and elsewhere. Our private visit to the exhibition will be introduced by Edwin Buijsen (Head of the Cultural Heritage Library, Cultural Heritage Agency, Amsterdam and guest curator of the exhibition) and Caroline van Santen (Curator, Zeeuws Museum, Middelburg). They will describe how the exhibition came into being, from its origins in Buijsen’s PhD thesis, and explain the rationale underlying the choices that led to the final design.
Unrelated to the exhibition but very worthwhile – given that we will be in Middelburg – will be a visit to the Zeeuws Archief (Zeeland Archives), a major source for historical research. Here we will view the exhibition Eyewitnesses to the Slave Trade, focusing on the Middelburg Commercial Company (MCC), whose ships transported over 31,000 enslaved people from West Africa to the West Indies in the eighteenth century. Archival documents from the MCC will be used to tell the story in the words of people who were there.
In the Van de Perrehuis, next door to the Archives, CODART members will have an exclusive opportunity to visit the eighteenth-century tapestry room, which is not open to the public. In this room you can still see in situ the enormous Brussels tapestries from the workshop of Daniël Leyniers, each one covering an entire wall.
Please see the full program of the event for details. You can find all practical information and the registration form on the Participate page.
This CODARTfocus is planned to coincide with a public symposium that the museum organizes on the art and life of the artist on Friday 22 March. Information about the symposium can be found here.
CODART thanks the Zeeuws Museum and the Zeeuws Archief for hosting this CODARTfocus.
