An Interdisciplinary Investigation of 17th-century Netherlandish Painting Practice.

You are invited to join us for “An Interdisciplinary Investigation of 17th-century Netherlandish Painting Practice.” Hosted as a hybrid event, join us for a lecture and conversation at the Center for Netherlandish Art on Thursday, March 28 from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm ET with Prof. Erma Hermens, the inaugural Hans Brenninkmeyer Visiting Senior Fellow. 

Prof. Hermens is director of the Hamilton Kerr Institute for Easel Painting Conservation and deputy director of Conservation and Heritage Science at Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum. A leading specialist in Technical Art History, Prof. Hermens will discuss the emerging results of her two-month residency at the CNA. Along with partners at the MFA, the Doerner Institute, the Alte Pinakothek, and the Toledo Museum of Art, Prof. Hermens and her team at Cambridge are participating in a major technical research project centered on the previously understudied flower still-lifes of the Dutch painter Rachel Ruysch (1666-1741) and her peers.

Prof. Hermens will talk about this and other case studies of her many projects that have looked deeply at Netherlandish art from technical perspectives. She will also reflect more broadly on the interdisciplinary methods at the core of technical art history and how this field is positioned at the nexus of arts and humanities, heritage science, and museum practice.