Digital Corpus of Flemish Retables

The aim of the project Digital Corpus of Flemish Retables is to disclose three collections of visual documentation of fifteenth and sixteenth century Flemish altarpieces in RKDimages to create a Digital Corpus of Flemish Retables that is as complete as possible. It contains visual documentation that was collected by Herman De Smedt (1927-2009), Jaap Leeuwenberg (1904-1978) and Hans Nieuwdorp (1945).

In addition, the newly developed MARKS ON ART database features marks in the form of transfer rubbings, which were collected by Herman De Smedt. For a concise overview of the contents of Herman De Smedt's entire archive, see the description in RKDcollections here.

Collaboration with Illuminare

For this project the RKD collaborates with Illuminare – Centre for the Study of Medieval Art (KU Leuven, Belgium), that among other things keeps the documentation on Flemish retables collected by Hans Nieuwdorp. By joining forces to provide access to specialist documentation the two institutes aim to increase the significance of this material for scholars and to promote interest in sculpture from the Middle Ages.

Project organisation

In collaboration with Illuminare the project Digital Corpus of Flemish Retables started in September 2016 under the supervision of Suzanne Laemers (RKD) and Jan Van der Stock (Illuminare) and is carried out by Iris Ippel (RKD), Olivia Puzzolante (Illuminare) and Hannah De Moor (Illuminare).