Research project SC/02 (Research action SC)
The objective of this project is to prepare a scientific catalogue of the 15th century paintings held at the Belgian Royal Fine Arts Galleries. The richness of these collections of international renown, including masterpieces by Roger Van der Weyden, Dieric Bouts, Hans Memlinc, Hieronymus Bosch and Gerard David, makes such a publication essential.
A scientific catalogue, as conceived today, includes not only traditional data (material description, history, iconography, style, bibliography) but also the observations made possible by the most recent research techniques, including infrared reflection photography. This method allows the underlying drawing to be studied, which is essential for a knowledge of the artist's style, verification of the authenticity of paintings
and the attribution of works.
The research project also provides for a systematic study of the original canvases and frames. This will obviously be completed by the existing documentation and information obtained through radiography and dendrochronology.
The project concerns 136 works of the 15th century from the former Southern Low Countries and, in addition to three works from the 14th century, includes paintings from neighbouring schools, i.e. the Northern Low Countries, the French school and the German school, for obvious reasons of affinity (the Italian and Spanish schools, which had a different spirit, will be the subject of another study). In future, it could be continued with a study of the 16th century as a single unit running from Quentin Massys to Paul Bril.
