Jeroen GoudeauBarbara KruijsenJos Koldeweij Volker Manuth Bram de Klerck Mette Gieskes

Six art historians introduce Netherlandish Art and Architecture at Radboud University Nijmegen

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...the power of IMAGeS is much GreATer than is generally admitted David Freedberg

Being in direct contact with art is such a big plus when studying it

insight through

observation

Radboud University’s almost cenTennIAl TrAdITIon of art history teaching and research guarantees hIGh-quAlITy expertise and study facilities

Art is what remains after every aspect of it has been analysed Martin Kessel

Netherlandish art can be studied all over the world, but true insight into its ongoing development can

only be gained in the

NetherlandsVisual perception of the world around us is extremely impor-

tant in everything we do and think. This is nothing new, but

something of all times. It was exactly this fascination with the

power of form and image that lured me into the academic

discipline of art history, with special attention to medieval

archaeology, the applied arts and the material aspects of the

history of the visual and decorative arts. I ended up speciali-

sing in the visual arts of the Late Middle Ages, especially city

culture and religious art in North-Western Europe. Medieval

pilgrimage and profane badges, as well as the mysterious

painter Jheronimus Bosch stand at the core of my research

and teaching.

Jos KoldeweijProfessor of the History of Medieval ArtMA and PhD at Utrecht University, lecturer at Utrecht University and Radboud

University Nijmegen, (guest) curator at Noordbrabants Museum (’s-Herto-

genbosch), Museum Catharijneconvent (Utrecht), Museum Boijmans Van

Beuningen (Rotterdam), Brugge Musea (Bruges) and others; professor of the

History of Art (Medieval Art) at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Radboud University’s English-taught

Master’s specialisation in Netherlandish Art

and Architecture in an International

Perspective offers wonderful possibilities

for students from all over the world to delve

into the great traditions of painting,

sculpture, architecture and the

decorative arts in the Netherlands.

www.ru.nl/masters/naa

Netherlandish Artand Architecture

Museum Het Valkhof in Nijmegen has a charming location,

overlooking the river Waal. The museum derives its name from

the medieval castle that once graced the nearby hillock, inhabi-

ted since Roman times and presently a nineteenth-

century park. The museum houses an extensive collection of

archaeological artefacts, old masters, and modern art. As a

curator, I am engaged in the study and presentation of the

Valkhof’s fine art collection. After obtaining my PhD at

Radboud University on the history of collecting, I have held

several positions at museums in the Netherlands. I feel

students of Netherlandish Art will benefit greatly from the

richness of museum collections both in Nijmegen and

elsewhere in the Netherlands.

Barbara KruijsenMuseum curator MA in Ancient History and History of Art at Radboud University Nijmegen,

PhD at Radboud University, assistant curator at Noordbrabants Museum

(’s-Hertogenbosch), assistant curator at Rijksmuseum Twenthe (Enschede),

curator at Limburgs Museum (Venlo), curator at Museum Het Valkhof (Nijmegen).

It all starts with the pleasure of observing. Looking at works

of art and buildings will raise questions. Art is both visual and

tangible, and functions within a specific spatial and cultural

context. Therefore the lectures will be alternated with a series

of carefully selected field trips through the Netherlands and

Flanders. It is only in dialogue with the real cities, buildings,

paintings, sculptures and applied art that an insight can be

gained. This insight will then be deepened in the lectures. In

the end, one will always have to turn back to the works of art

themselves and start all over again – with observing.

Jeroen GoudeauAssistant professor of the History of ArchitectureMA in History of Art and Literary Science at Leiden University, PhD at Utrecht

University, researcher and policy-making official in the conservation of monu-

ments and sites, assistant professor of the History of Architecture at Radboud

University Nijmegen.

Despite having been affiliated with several other univer sities,

I have never forgotten the alma mater. Apart from the friendly

atmosphere in town and on campus, as well as

excellent library and other study facilities, one aspect I

particularly valued in Nijmegen was the art history curricu-

lum’s broad subject matter and methodology. When, in 2004, I

returned to teach at Radboud University, I found that academic

versatility was still the rule. This is manifest in, among other

things, Radboud’s long-standing tradition of teaching and re-

search on the various aspects and approaches of the visual arts

and architecture in the Netherlands: truly a fertile breeding-

ground for a Master’s specialisation in that field.

Bram de KlerckProgramme coordinator and assistant professor of the History of Early Modern Art MA and PhD at Radboud University Nijmegen, lecturer at Emerson College

Boston European Center, post-doctoral fellow at Leiden University, assistant

professor of Cultural Studies at the Open University of the Netherlands, assist ant

professor of the History of Early Modern Art at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Ever since the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance,

Netherlandish paintings have been much sought-after and

immensely popular objects. They have decorated churches,

princely residences as well as the houses of burghers, and

many museums today have a substantial collection of pain-

tings from the Low Countries. Personally, I am fascinated by

the excellent craftsmanship, the variety of painting styles,

the remarkable range of subject matter and the new ap-

proach to reality which distinguish the paintings by Rubens,

Rembrandt, Vermeer and their many colleagues from those

of other schools. Besides, looking at their paintings to me is

one of the most fulfilling pleasures aesthetically as well as

intellectually.

Volker ManuthProfessor of Early Modern and Modern ArtPhD at the Freie Universität Berlin, professor of Art History (A. Bader Chair of

Northern Baroque Art) at Queen’s University, Kingston (Canada), honorary cu-

rator of seventeenth-century Dutch painting at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam,

professor of Early Modern and Modern Art at Radboud University Nijmegen.

Few museums and art history programmes abroad feature

artworks from more than one or two centuries. In Nijmegen,

students can devote themselves to studying the full range of

Netherlandish art from the 15th century to present day,

at Radboud University and museums nearby. The Haags

Gemeentemuseum, for instance, has the world’s largest

collection of Mondriaan and Constant paintings, and the Van

Gogh and Kröller-Müller museums each own hundreds of

works by Van Gogh. Visiting such collections during

classes on Dutch and Flemish modern art provides insights

that cannot be acquired elsewhere. For students wanting to

learn about the development of Netherlandish art through-

out history in social and cultural context, this Master’s

programme provides a unique opportunity.

Mette GieskesAssistant professor of the History of Modern ArtMA at Leiden University, PhD at University of Texas at Austin (USA),

curatorial assistant at Blanton Museum of Art in Austin and San Diego

Museum of Art, instructor at the University of Texas at Austin,

senior lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio, assistant professor of

the History of Modern Art at Radboud University Nijmegen.