Archive research uncovers three pioneers of Flemish painting
The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage houses an unpublished text by the historian Paul Rolland, which was based on valuable archive documents about the pioneers of Flemish painting: Robert Campin, Rogier Van der Weyden and Jacques Daret. Many of these archives were destroyed during the bombing of Tournai during World War II.
Paul Rolland
During his short career, the art historian Paul Rolland (1896-1949) spent a great deal of time researching the Flemish Primitives Robert Campin, Rogier Van der Weyden and Jacques Daret. He was close to publishing his manuscript when he died suddenly in 1949.
This manuscript contains valuable information, some of which came from archives destroyed during the bombing of Tournai in 1940. The Centre for the Study of the Flemish Primitives carefully examined and completed the text. The project of Paul Rolland will soon come to fruition with the publication of his life's work in the Contributions to the Study of the Flemish Primitives series.
Closer to Van Eyck in 100 billion pixels. The Mystic Lamb has never been so close
Thanks to the Closer to Van Eyck website, since 2012 millions of people have been zooming in on the staggeringly beautiful details of one of the world's most acclaimed works of art: the Ghent Altarpiece. In 2020, more than a quarter of a million interested people worldwide already took a look, and in the COVID period the number of visitors even increased by 800%. This shows the enormous potential of modern digital technology to make works of art from all eras widely accessible. The website was recently renewed and contains high resolution images of the restored paintings, new videos and educational material.
