Catalogue of Italian Paintings

About the project

The Rijksmuseum’s collection of Italian paintings comprises 198 works spanning the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, from most of the major artistic centres including Rome, Florence, Siena, Bologna, Milan and Venice. For this catalog project, a research protocol focused on non-invasive research methods such as X-radiography and infrared Imaging (including reflectography, false-colour and transmitted infrared) was developed. For selected paintings the research was expanded with additional methods such as high resolution photography, macro-X-ray fluorescence scanning and microscopic examination of paint samples.

aim of the project

To provide a comprehensive account of each of the Italian paintings in the Rijksmuseum, both those on display and those in storage, for use by art-historians, scholars, conservators, and the general public. Particular attention is being paid to technical research, often in collaboration with other major museums, such as the National Gallery, London, or the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, with whom information is shared. The catalogue will be published on-line, taking advantage of the possibilities this offers to include technical images.

Related publications

• G.S. de Vivo, ‘Mancini e Segantini al Rijksmuseum, due opere complesse’ in A. Lucchini and V. Parodi ed. L’ottocento nelle arti. Ricerche e dialoghi sulla conservazione. Rubbettino, 2026, pp. 26-30. 

• G. Poldi and G.S. de Vivo, ‘ “i campi […] luccicano al sole come pagliuzze d’oro.” L'oro di Segantini, nuove scoperte e piste di ricerca.’ in Giovanni Segantini , exh. cat., Museo Civico Bassano del Grappa, 25 October 2025 – 22 February 2026, pp. 101-121.

• M. Brüggen Israëls, ‘Holy Faces’ and ‘Fra Angelico: Virgin of Humility’ (cat. 6.3), in C.B. Strehlke, ed.: Fra Angelico / Beato Angelico , exh. cat. Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 26 September 2025 – 25 January 2026, pp. 242-45, 250-51.

• G.S. de Vivo and M. Brüggen Israëls, ‘Beato Angelico Madonna dell’Umiltà , 1434-1435 circa | Fra Angelico Virgin of Humility c. 1434–35’ in L. Sebregondi ed., Beato Angelico. Restauri per una mostra / Fra Angelico. Restorations for an exhibition , Marsilio Arte, 2025, pp. 92-97.

• M. Brüggen Israëls and G.S. de Vivo ‘ The Miraculous Madonna of Pistoia in a Devotional Replica of 1490–1500 Attributed to Niccolò di Mariano ’, in The Rijksmuseum Bulletin. 72, 3 (Sep. 2024), pp. 196–217. 

• G.S. de Vivo, A. van Loon, P. Noble, A. Hirayama, Y. Abe, I. Nakai and D. Bull, ‘An unusual pigment in 16th-century Ferrara: “Egyptian blue” in Garofalo’s “Adoration of the Magi” and Ortolano’s “St Margaret”, in A. Haack Christensen en A. Jager, reds.,  Trading Paintings and Painters’ Materials 1550–1800 , Archetype Publications, London, 2019, pp. 136-148. 

• G.S. de Vivo and D. Bull, ‘Approccio metodologico allo studio della collezione dei dipinti italiani del Rijksmuseum di Amsterdam’, in  Lo stato dell’arte  16. Congresso annuale IGIIC, Trento, Italy, 2018. 

• D. Bull,  The Architect and the Musician: Piero di Cosimo’s portraits of Giuliano da Sangallo and his father , Amsterdam (Rijksmuseum) 2013. 

• D. Bull, ‘A superannuated analemma in Paolo Veronese’s portrait of Daniele Barbaro’, in M. Israëls and L. Waldman, eds.,  Villa I Tatti Series: Renaissance Studies in Honor of Joseph Connors , Milan and Cambridge Mass., 2013, vol. I, pp. 378-84.

• D. Bull, ‘ Ludovico Carracci’s “Vision of St Francis”: Textual Sources and Visual Influence ’,  The Rijksmuseum Bulletin  60 (2012), no. 4, pp. 283-314. 

• D. Bull (with D. Jansen and W. de Ridder) ‘Les portraits de Jacopo et Ottavio Strada par Titien et Tintoret’, in J. Habert and V. Delieuvin, eds:  Titien, Tintoret, Véronèse. Rivalités à Venise , exh. cat., Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2009, pp. 200-213. 

• D. Bull, ‘ De Rijksmuseum Botticelli onder de loep: de gevaren van natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek ’,  Het Bulletin van Het Rijksmuseum  56 (2008), nr.1, pp. 48-57. 

• D. Bull, ‘Francesco Trevisani’s “St Felicity”, a gift from cardinal Ottoboni to the marquis de Torcy’,  The Burlington Magazine  150 (2008), pp.4-14. 

Partners and sponsors

This project is supported by the Familie Van Ogtrop Fonds/ Rijksmuseum Fonds.