Early Netherlandish paintings in their original settings. Creating, viewing & using images in Fifteenth-century Southern Low Countries
Period: 2024-2029
Partners:
Partners:- Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique ‒ Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium (IRPA-KIK) / Centre for the Study of the Flemish Primitives (https://www.kikirpa.be/en/study-center-flemish-primitives)
- Musea Brugge
Funding:
Belspo's FED-tWIN programme
Members:
- Ingrid Falque (UCLouvain/FNRS)
- Bart Fransen (IRPA-KIK)
- Melis Avkiran (UCLouvain/ IRPA-KIK)
The Project
IOHANNES is a joint initiative of UCLouvain and IRPA-KIK and in partnership with Musea Brugge. Over the course of five years, IOHANNES will explore the Flemish paintings in the collection of the St. John's hospital, including masterpieces by Hans Memling. The project is funded by the Federal Science Policy (BELSPO) within the framework of the fed-Twin programme.
Flemish Primitives in a hospital?
Founded in the 12th century, the St. John’s hospital in Bruges is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. In its 900-year history, the hospital has always been home to precious art objects. These include one of the largest collections of paintings by the Bruges master Hans Memling. Some of these paintings were explicitly commissioned from Memling by the brothers and sisters of the hospital. After hundreds of years, they are still in situ – in the place for which they were created. This makes the project a special case study for early Netherlandish paintings in their original setting.
Art, Piety and Health Care
The medieval hospital of St. John’s was a social and a religious institution. Unlike modern hospitals, it took not only care of the patient’s body, but also of the Christian soul. Paintings and other devotional objects therefore played a specific role in the hospital’s everyday life and formed together a relational environment of artistic and religious experience.
IOHANNES – Project Goals
The investigation will concentrate on two key aspects: a) the material display of the paintings and b) enhancing our comprehension of their specific role in the hospital, linking religious services and prayers to artistic objects. The data gathered regarding materiality, iconography, function, and usage will enable us to reconstruct the 15th-century visual landscape of the St. John’s hospital and its contemporary experience as close as possible.
Corpus of the Flemish Primitives
The project results will be published in a volume of the series Corpus of the Flemish Primitives, which offers scientific analysis of paintings by Flemish masters between 1400-1500 in public collections, this time dedicated to the museum collection of the St. John’s hospital.
Contact
CC-BY KIK-IRPA, Brussels
