RKDexcerpts

Leiden Artistic Production until 1575 (6.036 records)

Contains archival entries in which artists and artisans in Leiden in the period 1475-1575 appear. The entries, focusing on the period up to 1555, include painters, printmakers, book illuminators, glass painters, sculptors and carvers, joiners, bookbinders and printers, goldsmiths, tinsmiths, as well as musicians, rhetoricians and singers. The records contain links to Erfgoed Leiden en Omstreken where the original records are kept.

Artechne (8.016 records)

Contains over eight thousand quotations from various manuscripts from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century describing painting techniques and recipes for preparing paint and processing glass. The selection is based on source material from the archive of Dutch glass artist Sybren Valkema (1916-1996) and was entered in RKDexcerpts as part of the research project Art DATIS (Digital Art Technical sources for the Netherlands: Integration and improvement of sources on glass for a Sustainable future) initiated at Utrecht University.

Hofstede de Grootfiches (705.166 records)

The index cards of Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), art historian and founder of the RKD, contain descriptions of mainly seventeenth-century paintings and drawings (and, to a lesser extent, works from the fifteenth, sixteenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries) taken from auction catalogues, museum and exhibition catalogues, as well as from private collections and archives, partly seen and assessed by Hofstede de Groot himself. Literature references and personal notes are also included. After Hofstede de Groot's death, RKD staff added to the collection until the 1990s. The index cards are of great importance when researching the provenance of a work of art.

Archiefaantekeningen (Archival notes) Abraham Bredius (11,116 records)

Abraham Bredius (1855-1946) was one of the first to conduct systematic research into seventeenth-century painters in Dutch archives. From every archive entry he found, he made an excerpt in which he noted what he thought was of interest. Apart from Bredius, this domain also contains excerpts by Nicolaas de Roever (1850-1893), former city archivist of Amsterdam, and art historian Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863-1930), among others. 

The project to provide metadata for the archival notes of Abraham Bredius is ongoing. The current collection of excerpts mainly concerns Amsterdam artists. Excerpts on artists working in other cities, such as Leiden, The Hague, Delft, Haarlem and Dordrecht, will be added at a later stage.

Visiting the Golden Age (3.299 records)

Contains about one hundred published and digitised travel accounts of visitors to the Dutch Republic in the period 1581-1750, published in German, English, French, Italian and Latin. The selection was made as part of the research project Un siècle d'or? Repenser la peinture hollandaise du XVIIe siècle at the University of Geneva.

Levende Meesters (Living Masters) (41.116 records)

The exhibitions of Levende Meesters are the most extensive and most frequently held exhibitions of contemporary art in the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. From 1808 to 1917, these exhibitions were organised in major cities such as Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Groningen. This domain contains a selection of excerpts from the accompanying catalogues. Additions to these are still being made. Via RKDlibrary, all catalogues can be consulted as pdf.

Nineteenth-Century Studio Practice  (1.124 records)

Contains transcriptions of quotations from letters and contemporary publications relating to the nineteenth-century studio practice of mainly Dutch artists. The selection was made as part of the exhibition project Mythen van het atelier. Werkplaats en schilderpraktijk van de negentiende-eeuwse Nederlandse kunstenaar (Myths of the studio. Workshop and painting practice of the nineteenth-century Dutch artist) at Teylers Museum, Haarlem (2010) and Valkhof Museum, Nijmegen (2011).

Kunsthandel Frans Buffa & Zonen (220 records)

Contains transcriptions of letters to and from the Amsterdam-based art dealer Buffa & Sons from 1895 to 1943. The selection was made as part of the exhibition project Kunsthandel Frans Buffa & Zonen 1790-1951. Schoonheid te koop (Art dealer Frans Buffa & Sons. Beauty for sale) at Museum Singer Laren (2016).

Cornelis Kruseman (162 records)

Contains transcriptions of correspondence from various archives of the portrait, genre and history painter Cornelis Kruseman (1797-1857) with various relations from 1819 until just before his death in 1857. This research was made possible with the support of the Cornelis Kruseman - J.M.C. Ising Foundation and resulted in the RKD Study Cornelis Kruseman (1797-1857): Aardse roem en hemelse ambitie.

Correspondence Hendrik Willem Mesdag (22 records)

This domain contains transcriptions of letters from the artist Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831-1915). As part of the Mesdag Year in 2015, much of Mesdag's correspondence was collected from various collections and transcribed. A small part of it has been included in RKDexcerpts.

Printed Ephemera (10.093 records)

Includes announcements of and invitations to exhibitions, obituaries and other small printed matter concerning Dutch artists from the period c. 1880-1960.

Labels on art (1.173 records)

Contains over a thousand labels from mainly Dutch and German art dealers, framers and restorers from the first half of the twentieth century.