Zoekresultaten

Watch the Amazing Results of the Restored Ghent Altarpiece

18 December 2019

The central panel of The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, also known as the Ghent Altarpiece, shines like never before. The second stage of the restoration of Van Eyck’s masterpiece has come to an end. The restoration stripped away the 16th-century overpainting to reveal an abundance of fine details.

Results of the Survey ‘The State of the Dutch Language’ 2021

8 November 2021

In social settings, on social media, and at work, the Dutch language is doing well. But the use of Dutch demands continued support in higher education, and the use of dialects and regional languages deserves further attention too.

Moving Verses

Flemish Miniatures for England

18 March 2019

In 1479 the King of England, Edward IV, paid a merchant called Philip Maisertuell ‘for certaine boks by the said Philip to be provided to the kyngs use in the partees beyond the see'. The King' s commission had been for the purchase of manuscripts in Flanders. His interest stemmed from a long tradition, for one of the striking aspects of Flemish miniature painting in the late Middle Ages was the connection with England — to the extent that a thorough survey could be written just using those codices which were sent there or which were produced as a result of commissions from England. The English public showed a lively interest in Flemish manuscripts and Flemish miniaturists were appreciated in that country.

Between Christendom and Christianity. The Church in Flanders

18 March 2019

Flanders remained a strong and homogeneous Roman Catholic area shortly after the Second World War. Today the Church in Flanders is not longer as strong as it used to be, but in a whole new phase. The change is gathering momentum. It is impossible to predict what the Christian scene will look like a decade hence. In the meantime the scene is still profoundly characterised by thousands of churches and monuments, the result of 1500 years of Christendom, and no alternative has yet succeeded in replacing this Christianity as a meaningful ideology.

Through Foreign Eyes. Painters from the Low Countries in Seventeenth-Century England

18 March 2019

England has from the beginning been a nation of writers but it is only from the early eighteenth century that the English can claim to have produced a body of native painters, responsible for providing the lion's share of the nation's pictures. With the exception of miniature painters practising a specialist art and the occasional native of distinction such as William Dobson, John Michael Wright and Francis Barlow, the history of painting in England during the seventeenth century was very largely the creation of foreign artists, particularly from the Netherlands, both north and south, who either came on short visits or for various reasons took up residence there. In the later sixteenth century they were often refugees fleeing from war and religious persecution, whereas a century later economic hardship sometimes prompted their emigration to England. Portraiture, that essential accompaniment to the life of a court, was very largely served by foreigners, primarily by Anthony van Dyck and Daniel Mytens before the Civil War, and by Peter Lely and Godfrey Kneller after the Restoration - with the result that the English image of the Stuart kings is very largely their creation. Although portraiture was the predominant activity of painting in seventeenth-century England, there were other categories of subject-matter painted by the visiting artists from the Low Countries and some of what they produced forms the subject of this essay.

From ‘Red and Black’ to ‘Red and Blue’. Twenty-Five Years of Dutch Politics

18 March 2019

The first test of the new 'purple' coalition's popularity in the Netherlands came with the provincial elections in March 1995. They turned out very badly for the CDA and PVDA.To everyones surprise it was the VVD, which had taken such risks in cooperating with the coalition, which gained most, doing particularly well in the cities. The question is, though, whether the liberal victory of March 1995 has done anything to improve the stability of the 'purple' coalition; the ‘blue' element was considerably better at getting through to the voters than the ‘red', despite the personal popularity of the social democrat Prime Minister, Wim Kok. The results of the 1994 general election suggested that the PVDA was on its way back after the low point of the early nineties; a year later its situation proved to be just as grave as before. The prospects are not bright; not for Dutch social democracy, but not for the ‘red-blue' coalition either.

Tropical Medicine in Antwerp

18 March 2019

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp was founded in 1931 as a private institution. Nowadays it is linked with the University Hospital of Antwerp. It plays a vital role as a link between the populations in developing countries on one hand and the major research centres on the other. Its own research work is mainly aimed at at solving the health problems of these populations, making use of the results of fundamental research.

Chronicle of a Crisis Foretold. The Judicial System in Belgium

18 March 2019

The Belgian judicial system is failing. This is not a conclusion which has been reached recently, following the failure of judicial bodies in a number of cases involving missing children and the consequent mass protests. The maladies of the judicial systern were already clearly visible at the beginning of the 1970s. Newspaper cuttings from those years talk about the pernicious influence of political appointments, outdated working methods, bottlenecks in the courts and judges being out of touch with the real world This diagnosis was made repeatedly over many years. But it did not lead to radical reforms. There are at least two explanations for this. First, the inertia which is a result of the tenacious, almost unyielding balance of power in politics. Second, the way in which the political agenda is drawn up in Belgium. The problems facing the judicial system require an entirely new approach. They require more than the crisis management which has been the custom in Belgian government for so many years.

Bridging Two Cultures. The Story of the Huygens Family

18 March 2019

The Dutch Golden Age in the seventeenth century was a period which saw a quite extraordinary convergence of talent, not just in society as a whole, but also within the confines of a single family. There is no doubt that on the international stage Christian Huygens has become the best known member of this family. The language of mathematics and physics is international by nature and knowledge of Christians's observations on light and his invention of the pendulum clock spread all over the world. But within the Netherlands it could well be that Christian's father Constantine is better known than his son. Constantine used his mother tongue rather than the international language of Latin for his poetry, and as a result sacrificed fame throughout Europe to his love of his own country. He did this quite deliberately, judging that his own mission and that of his generation was to raise the quality of Dutch literature to match European standards. He became an important Dutch poet — but this only made him a big fish in a small pond. So father and son united science and literature in one family. (with a translation of ‘On the Frontispiece of “Cornflowers”' by Constantine Huygens).

Official Anarchy. Dutch Graphic Design

18 March 2019

Amsterdam-based designer Shigeru Watano once remarked: ‘Analytical and rational design principles govern Dutch design.' He was right. Dutch graphic design has emerged from an essentially typographic tradition, and this analytical background has resulted in a clear and well-organised typography — a management of the page that is deeply concerned with visualising the hierarchies and the construction of texts. With this as the point of departure, very different styles are possible: the ‘classic' typographic style is a continuing, rich and living tradition in the Netherlands, but it is another style for which Dutch graphic design has been internationally recognised and applauded: a style that allows for a great variety of often rather complex images. A style that consists not only of a ‘management of information' , but is also the carrier of explicit personal interpretations and commentaries by the designer. Dutch graphic design is constantly reconciling opposites: tradition and experiment, typography and image, institutions and individuality, rules and anarchy, and ultimately, art and application, function and expression.

Anne Frank’s Literary Connections

18 March 2019

Millions of people have read Anne Frank's diary, but Ton Broos investigates what books Anne herself read. The result is a more balanced picture of a girl too often portrayed as a semi-saint or a `cute Shirley Temple in wartime'.