This month, we had the honour and pleasure of welcoming Dr Andrea Seim to The Phoebus Foundation’s art conservation studio. With her exceptional knowledge and research in dendrochronology – the scientific method of dating annual rings of trees (also called growth ring ...
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Conservator Naomi Meulemans looks over the shoulder of CoBrA artist Karel Appel with the work 'Bird' (1954). Like no other, she is able to unlock secrets from the materiality of the paint. The author dissects Appel's painting layer by layer. The outcome is somewhat sobering. Were ...
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Our sub-collection of Latin American art is also undergoing conservation treatments! Phoebus Conservator Naomi Meulemans is happy to take you behind the paint layers of Amorphous Figures by Chilean artist Roberto Matta (1911-2002). ...
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The portrait of Elisabeth Jordaens may seem charming at first sight, but it also raises many questions. Who was Elisabeth Jordaens? When did her father, the famous Jacob Jordaens, paint her portrait and why does she look like a peasant girl? In this episode, Jordaens expert Leen ...
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Is it July already? Time flies! The construction works in the Boerentoren are in progress as well at a fast pace. The floors containing asbestos are being further remediated and the non-original interior dismantled. What’s more, the concrete ceiling by star architect Léon ...
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You may have noticed… Our loan activities do not stand still! Moreover, ever since the end of the (worst) Covid-19 pandemic, we have a particularly large number of artworks that are leaving our warehouse on a short or longer journey to be presented in Belgium and abroad. Fo ...
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Fall will be exciting... Because The Phoebus Foundation is going to the USA!
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The life of Saint Dymphna reads like a fairy tale! The life story of this remarkable saint appeals so much to the imagination that Goossen Van der Weyden (1465-1538), grandson of the famous Rogier, painted an altarpiece, consisting of eight panels, with an episode from the life o ...
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Meet our new Phoebus Fellow: Alexandra Taylor! All the way from New Zealand, Alexandra joined our conservation team last month. She will assist our conservators in various projects for the next three months. Alexandra immediately started with the treatment of Jan Miel’s Figure ...
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Never heard of Maerten De Vos (1532-1603)? In sixteenth-century Antwerp he may have been a superstar, but today his fame is far less than that of, for example, Peter Paul Rubens. In this episode, Hildegard Van de Velde, curator of the Snijders&Rockox House Museum, introduces you ...
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With Koen Fillet, Katrijn Van Bragt (Collection Consultant) and Sven Van Dorst (Chief Conservator) of The Phoebus Foundation The Study of a Young Woman (c.1649-1659) by the Brussels artist Michaelina Wautier appears at first sight to be an ordinary study. Nothing could be further ...
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Crazy about Dymphna opened a month ago in Geel! Project coordinator Niels Schalley is happy to tell you more about the construction and installation of this fascinating exhibition: “After a two-year delay because of Covid-19, it was fantastic to finally be abl ...
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From April 1 onwards, we bring Goossen Van der Weyden’s exceptional Dymphna altarpiece to the place where it all began: Geel! With Crazy about Dymphna, The Phoebus Foundation is showing the altarpiece with the life of Saint Dymphna by Goossen Van der Weyden, grandson of the fam ...
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Koen Fillet and Sven Van Dorst dive into the wonderful world of flowers of the Antwerp Jesuit and superstar Daniel Seghers (1590-1661). Seghers worked with Peter Paul Rubens, Cornelis Schut, Gonzales Coques and Erasmus II Quellinus. The highest-ranking nobles queued up for his fl ...
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Discover the Antwerp superstar Jacob Jordaens like never before and be surprised by the stories behind his ingenious and sometimes witty paintings. What’s more: in the reconstruction of his showroom, you can actually visit the master at home! In cooperation with the Frans H ...
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Conservators Titania Hess and Laura Guilluy take you behind the scenes of the Phoebus conservation studio! ‘Christ Triumphiant, by Jacob Jordaens, has undergone a full restoration treatment! As the painting was relined during a previous treatment, the canvas was in excellen ...
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The sun is shining, the Covid-19 measures have (almost) disappeared,… ideal for a trip to Haarlem! Until May 8, you can admire At Home with Jordaens at the Frans Hals Museum: the first monographic exhibition of the seventeenth-century Antwerp master Jacob Jordaens in the Ne ...
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Although we are restoring works of art, making exhibitions and writing books, you would almost forget that we still have a tower to rebuild! Take a glimpse behind the scenes of our future exhibition spaces in the famous ‘Boerentoren’. After the official purchase in November 2 ...
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We start this new year with launching exciting conservation projects at the Phoebus conservation studio! Naomi Meulemans, conservator of the modern and contemporary sub-collections, oversees the restoration campaign of the installation Los Muñecos, created in 1960 by Italian-Arg ...
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Why does Hans Memling paint every detail with such precision? How did Rubens manage, with a few brushstrokes, to create an effect that would have made Steven Spielberg jealous? And why were the Southern Netherlands the artistic centre of the world for three centuries? From Memlin ...
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As usual at The Phoebus Foundation, conservation and research go hand in hand. A beautiful example is The Virgin of the Candlelight, an anonymous Peruvian work on canvas from the 18th century which is part of the collection Latin-American art from the Colonial period. Conservator ...
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For the exhibition James Ensor in Kunsthalle Mannheim (DE), conservator Naomi Meulemans travelled in 2021 as a courier to Germany to help with the installation of no less than 5 artworks that The Phoebus Foundation gave in loan for this project. The work of the Belgian artist Jam ...
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Phoebus Fellow Anna Rota (IT) is happy to offer you a glimpse behind the scenes of her conservation project at The Phoebus Foundation: ‘Despite its small size (25 x 25 cm), this painting by the studio of Joos Van Cleve (1485-1541), immediately attracts our attention. The un ...
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Art historian Anne-Rieke van Schaik (NL) focused during het fellowship on the sub-collection Topography and Cartography. Anne-Rieke is glad to give an insight in her Phoebus Fellowship program: ‘Early modern media, the narrative qualities of cartography, and the intertwinin ...
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Time flies! After more than seven months, we said goodbye to the city of Tallinn at the end of November 2021, where we organized the exhibitions From Memling to Rubens and Crazy about Dymphna at the Kadriorg Museum and the Niguliste Museum. It was such an honour to travel abroad ...
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With isolations and quarantines, the end of the coronapandemic does not seem to be in sight. Even our paintings of the famous Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) in Haarlem had to go into lockdown for a few weeks. Fortunately, we have great news: the At home with Jordaens exhibition ...
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Collection registration and beautiful books don’t exist without perfect images. Take a look behind the scenes of our photo studio where our photographers capture various artworks with their lenses. Michel is happy to tell you more about this fascinating and challenging task. Is ...
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Discover a very special part of The Phoebus Foundation’s collection: Maritime and Logistic Heritage! A team of enthusiastic volunteers is in charge of the daily routine of this extraordinary collection. As retired dockworkers with a passion for heritage they know this collectio ...
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Take a look behind the scenes at the restoration treatment of one of the oldest oil paintings from the collection of The Phoebus Foundation. Dating from c.1418-25, the artwork is even older than the famous Ghent Altarpiece by the brothers van Eyck (1432). Consisting of four panel ...
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The many portraits from the Middle Ages to the early modern period from The Phoebus Foundation collection formed the ideal starting point for the fascinating story of the history of portraiture. In 2020, The Phoebus Foundation, in cooperation with the Museum Snijders&Rockox H ...
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In 2018, the Chancellery of The Phoebus Foundation introduced the public to a new sub-collection. Fox Hunt was not just any exhibition: it comprised a cycling and presentation circuit devoted to the legend of Reynard the Fox. The wide-ranging Reynard collection was presented in t ...
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With ROOTED, The Phoebus Foundation devoted an exhibition in 2017 to Flemish art between 1880 and 1930. In the leading role? The most influential painters of the period: Emile Claus, Valerius De Saedeleer, Gustave Van de Woestyne, George Minne, James Ensor, Léon Spilliaert, Rik ...
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The Phoebus Foundation, in collaboration with the Province of East Flanders, organized its very first exhibition in 2016 at the Caermersklooster Provincial Cultural Centre in Ghent. It marked the Chancellery’s first appearance as a new player in the field of old masters. The B ...
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A spin-off of the exhibition The Bold and the Beautiful took place in Museum Vleeshuis. On the second floor you could admire three tasty paintings by Frans Snijders from the collection of The Phoebus Foundation in a surprising presentation by Walter Van Beirendonck.
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Especially for At home with Jordaens, various works by Jacob Jordaens underwent an extensive conservation treatment. Conservators Jill and Ellen Keppens take you behind the paint layers of The Sleeping Antiope Approached by Jupiter (1660). ‘This painting reminded us of an o ...
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In 2020, we received the greatest gift we could have ever imagined! Within a few years’ time, visitors will be able to enjoy our exhibitions in the most iconic tower of Antwerp and beyond: the ‘Boerentoren’ (“Farmer’s Tower”)! Constructed between 1928 and 1931 in art- ...
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Lace can have an old-fashioned reputation at times, but in 2019 the Chancellery of The Phoebus Foundation brought this centuries-old luxury textile very much to life. The Phoebus Foundation collaborated with the City of Aalst, the Jan De Nul and Van de Velde companies and with Wi ...
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Meet Myriam De Saedeleer: lace expert and manufacturer from a striking family of lace producers. In the context of the exhibition Lace is More, Myriam tells her unique story.
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Flemish fashion guru Jani Kazaltzis visits the exhibition Lace is More! together with curator Katharina Van Cauteren and discovers the surprising history of lace.
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Caudry, in the north of France, is the world centre of the lace industry, along with Calais. The region has six active companies, which export 80% of their production worldwide, mainly for haute couture and the luxury segment of ready-to-wear clothing. The excellence of the craft ...
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In 2019, The Phoebus Foundation organised Lace is More!: an opulent exhibition that introduced visitors to five centuries of cultural history. It focused on lace clothing and accessories as true status symbols, which were often passed on from mother to daughter, or from father to ...
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