Research

The Rijksmuseum has a diverse and multifaceted collection. Research, conservation and restoration are essential to ensure this collection remains accessible for future generations. Through a number of its programmes the Rijksmuseum offers posts for outstanding candidates in various branches of research. Within our Fellowship programme, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Terra Foundation for American Art each year support young graduates who are advancing knowledge of art, history and museology. The Gieskes-Strijbis Fund enables the museum to facilitate important research into photography and glass disease.

Fellowships

The Fellowship programme supports scholarly research and contributes to the academic discourse and a broad international knowledge network. It brings talented candidates from around the globe to the Rijksmuseum to do part of their research here with access to the museum’s expertise, collections, library and conservation studios. Our Fellowships promote the advancement of knowledge and exchange not only among Fellows themselves, but with other scholars and the general museum public as well.

The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship is for graduates doing historical, object-based artistic and cultural research focused on the Netherlands and its position as a crossroads of international art, artists and artistic ideas and materials. Young researchers from different backgrounds are encouraged to study a broad range of topics such as art migration to and from the Netherlands, the commercial trade in materials, shared cultural heritage and the operation and effects of intercultural networks.

The Terra Foundation Fellowship in American Photography was set up for young researchers to study the Rijksmuseum’s collection of American photography. With the Photography Department’s acquisitions policy having refocused in 2005 on American photographs, research conducted by these Fellows is building knowledge and international recognition of this collection. The research, which spans both art historical research and material and technical analysis, is also contributing to a planned exhibition about this subcollection.

Restoration, conservation and research in the photography and glass collections

Researchers appointed at the Rijksmuseum through the Gieskes-Strijbis Fonds work with both the photography and glass collections. Even with large past investments in conservation of the photography collection, additional efforts are still needed in several key areas. The junior photograph conservator carries out technical analyses and conservation aimed at the long-term management and preservation of the museum’s collection of Dutch photography.

Glass degradation, or glass disease, is a significant problem for the ongoing preservation of older glass in museum collections. With the appointment of a glass specialist, the Rijksmuseum is facilitating research on glass disease in conjunction with the renowned Corning Museum of Glass and Conservation Science Center at the University of Dallas. Research at all three institutions, along with presentations and publications, is contributing to worldwide knowledge about this issue, and dissemination of the research results will offer important handholds for the future of glass conservation.