Edwin Buijsen has been appointed Head of the Cultural Heritage Laboratory (Rijkserfgoedlaboratorium) at the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed), effective 1 September.

Edwin Buijsen, CODART-member since 2005, has been Head of Collections & Research at the Mauritshuis for fifteen years and was involved in many research projects and exhibitions on Dutch and Flemish art. In 2018, he completed his dissertation on the production of paintings by the seventeenth-century Dutch artist Adriaen van de Venne, which was awarded the Karel van Mander Prize in 2019.

The Cultural Heritage Laboratory, which is housed in the Ateliergebouw in Amsterdam, is the Dutch national center for research, advice and knowledge exchange in the field of material-technical aspects of heritage. The center has a stationary and a mobile laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment, a secure digital laboratory network and a growing reference collection, consisting of historical materials, reconstructions and samples of objects. Buijsen will be leading a team of about 25 experts, consisting of chemists, physicists, materials and conservation specialists, restorers, art historians and archaeologists, who investigate how objects are made and how they change over time. With their advice they contribute to the sustainable preservation and future use of our heritage.

Although it was a difficult decision to leave such an outstanding museum as the Mauritshuis, Buijsen is looking forward to this new challenge. “During my career I became convinced of the great importance of technical research for art history and I consider it a privilege to be able to work with the unique blend of talent and expertise in this field at the Cultural Heritage Laboratory.”