Art Historical Research and Inventory
A team of passionate art historians studies Belgium’s national heritage. Their sharp eye is the perfect complement to the material-technical analysis. At the same time, they are responsible for the continuous expansion and improvement of the photographic inventory.
The photo library: a visual memory of our heritage
One of the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage's core tasks is creating a visual memory of the entire cultural heritage of Belgium. The photographic inventory or ‘photo library’ currently contains over one million pictures from 1880 to the present day. They show, among other things, visual arts, crafts, architecture, archaeology and even landscapes.
We are constantly expanding the inventory with pictures from our art historical studies and photographs of all the works of art that are being researched or restored within the institute. General inventory campaigns also feed into the photo library, for example, those in the framework of our cooperation with the Brussels-Capital Region.
The photographs are all digitised and available free of charge in our online database BALaT. You can also consult the entire collection in the reading room.
History of the photographic inventory
The photographic inventory has a long and fascinating history. The foundation was laid at the beginning of the 20th century by the Royal Museums of Art and History. Since then, the collection has grown considerably. A few essential phases in the growth of the inventory:
- During the First World War, the German occupiers made many high-quality photographs of Belgium’s cultural heritage. The Royal Museums later purchased the negatives and developed the collection on a national scale.
- During the Second World War, as our heritage was threatened by the war, Paul Coremans, the later founder and first director of our institution, organised major photo campaigns. Some of these 180,000 images are the only reminders of monuments lost in the war.
- 1967-1984: the Second Vatican Council brought about many liturgical changes. Some cult objects and church furniture lost their function and gradually disappeared from churches. This prompted the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage to create an extensive nationwide photographic database of the contents of Catholic churches in Belgium. No fewer than 250,000 photographs were taken during this vast campaign.
Art historical research
The development of the inventory and art historical research go hand in hand. Our art historians are renowned experts of art in Belgium.
Our main areas of research are:
- book illuminations from the late Middle Ages
- engravings and photography in the 19th and 20th century
- Gothic and Baroque sculptures
- stained-glass windows from the 15th to the 20th century
- religious iconography
- religious objects.
Studies are often carried out in cooperation with universities or museums. In many cases, they are research projects funded by the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO).
The work of inventorying allows the Institute's art historians to maintain direct, concrete contact with the object. It is a powerful intellectual tool which enables us to learn to look and understand.
Art history seminars
Since 2000, we have organised annual art history seminars on different art themes in Belgium from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Specialists from Belgium and abroad discuss the state of research and exchange knowledge and ideas.
- Art History Seminar 23 (12-13.09.2024): The Archduchess Isabella (1566-1633) : Artistic Agency between Madrid and the Southern Netherlands
- Art History Seminar 22 (24.11.2023): L’actualité de la recherche sur la sculpture en Belgique = Lopend onderzoek naar de beeldhouwkunst in België
- Art History Seminar 21 (10.11.2022): L’IRPA revoit la copie = De kopie in de kunst: dubbel en KIK
- Art History Seminar 20 (24-25-26.10.2019): Ornamenta Sacra : late medieval and early-modern liturgical objects in a European context (1400-1800)
- Art History Seminar 19 (30-31.05.2018): Nouveaux regards sur les saisies patrimoniales en Europe à l’époque de la Révolution française = Een nieuwe blik op de inbeslagname van erfgoed in Europa ten tijde van de Franse Revolutie
- Art History Seminar 18 (9-10.02.2017): Copies of Flemish Masters in the Hispanic World (1500-1700)
- Art History Seminar 17 (25-26.02.2016): 1515-1547 : Francis I and the artists of the North
- Art History Seminar 16 (22-24.10.2015): Flesh, gold and wood : the Saint-Denis altarpiece in Liège and the question of partial paint practices in the 16th century
- Art History Seminar 15 (13-14.02.2014): Art nouveau revisited : tendencies and specificities
- Art History Seminar 14 (3.12.2013): Regards d’historiens de l’art sur l’étude du vitrail monumental en Belgique = Blik van de kunsthistoricus op de studie van de monumentale glasramen in België
- Art History Seminar 13 (16-17.02.2012): Questions d’ornement
- Art History Seminar 12 (20-21.10.2011): A masterly hand : interdisciplinary research on the late-medieval sculptor Master of Elsloo
- Art History Seminar 11 (10.10.2010): Machinae spirituales : les retables baroques dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux : mise en contexte européen et contribution à une histoire formelle du sentiment religieux au XVIIe siècle
- Art History Seminar 10 (3.12.2009): Léon Delaissé et l’exposition La miniature flamande (1959) : un demi-siècle de recherches sur l’enluminure « bourguignonne » = Léon Delaissé en de tentoonstelling De Vlaamse miniatuur (1959): vijftig jaar onderzoek naar de “Bourgondische” miniatuurkunst
- Art History Seminar 9 (24.10.2008): De Renaissance prentkunst in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden = La gravure de la Renaissance dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux
- Art History Seminar 8 (24.04.2007): Photographie documentaire et histoire de l’art = Documentaire fotografie en kunstgeschiedenis
- Art History Seminar 7 (30.03 – 1.04.2006): Campin in context : peinture et société dans la vallée de l’Escaut à l’époque de Robert Campin, 1375-1445
- Art History Seminar 6 (2.12.2005): La peinture murale en Belgique
- Art History Seminar 5 (30.11.2004): Les artistes belges et les salons, de la fin du XVIIIe au début du XXe siècle
- Art History Seminar 4 (10.12.2003): Vingt-cinq ans de recherche en Belgique sur les Primitifs flamands : bilans et perspectives = Vijfentwintig jaar onderzoek naar de Vlaamse Primitieven in België : stand van zaken en perspectieven
- Art History Seminar 3 (19.09.2002): Les décors d’intérieurs civils aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles
- Art History Seminar 2 (13.12.2001): Le monument public en Belgique de 1830 à 1918
- Art History Seminar 1 (25.02.2000): La sculpture baroque dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux et la Principauté de Liège
Art historical advice
In some cases, the art historians at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage provide art historical advice on objects in line with their specialisation.
Do you have a work of particular value for Belgium’s cultural heritage, and would you like us to examine it? Contact us!
Do you have any questions or need more information? Please contact us!
