| Plot Summary | The publication of the second in a five-volume scholarly catalogue of the 15th-century Southern Netherlandish paintings in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels is a long awaited event not only in Belgium but troughout the art world. The museums' rich collection of Flemish Primitives boasts paintings by Rogier van der Weyden, Gerard David, Petrus Christus, Dirk Bouts, Hans Memling and Hieronymus Bosch. It also includes several important works by artists with provisional names from the Schools of Tournai, Bruges and Brussels, such as th Master of Flémalle, the Master of the St Lucy Legend and the Master of the Life of Joseph. This multi-volume English-language catalogue will include approximately 100 paintings. Each work is the subject of a thorough analysis covering technical, iconographical and stylistic aspects. Information is drawn from documents in the Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique/Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium and the Centre international d'étude de la peinture médiévale des bassins de l'Escaut et de la Meuse/ Internationaal Studiecentrum voor de Middeleeuwse Schilderkunst in het Schelde-en Maasbekken. The project was made possible by the Federal Prime Minister's Office for Scientific, Technical and Cultural Affairs which created an interuniversity research network in collaboration with federal scientific and cultural agencies. Launched in 1993, the project benefits from the cooperation of three institutions: the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Eliane De Wilde), the Université catholique de Louvain (Roger Van Schoute) and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Maurits Smeyers). The entries were written by four art historians, Cyriel Stroo, Pascale Syfer-d'Olne, Anne Dubois and Roel Slachmuylders, and the infrared reflectography was performed by Freya Maes. The catalogue contains colour reproductions of all the paintings as well as other visual documentation from laboratory investigations, photographs of related works and diagrams of original frames. |
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