On 23 June 2016, CODART-Member Marrigje Rikken, Associate Curator of Old Master Painting at the Frans Hals Museum and Curator of Dutch and Flemish History Paintings of the Netherlands Institute for Art History, will defend her PhD-thesis in Leiden.
Rikken’s thesis, titled Dieren verbeeld, investigates the development between 1550 to 1630 of Southern Netherlandish animal imagery into an autonomous genre in relation to developments in natural history, networks of artists and scientists, and elite collecting practices in order to gain insight into the production, function, and meaning of animal imagery. The three media in which animal imagery has been created: drawings, prints and paintings, are studied in tandem. The production of animal imagery and the study of natural history developed simultaneously, therefore it is explored how artists exploited and dealt with natural historical knowledge derived from publications and how they in turn contributed to science. The study also analyzes the extent to which artists producing animal imagery studied exotic animals in menageries and in naturalia collections of their patrons.
On behalf of Marrigje Rikken we would like to invite all CODART-members to attend the event on 23 June at 13:45 (sharp), at the address listed below.
Academy Building, Leiden University
Rapenburg 73
2311 GJ Leiden
Please RSVP to marrigjespromotie@gmail.com