Projects
The sketchbook in the North: the Errera-sketchbook (ca. 1520-1530)
Only a handful early modern sketchbooks from the North have survived, but they fulfill a crucial position within art history. Research so far has focused predominantly on subject matter on the folio’s within these books, rather than exploring the function of these objects as instruments for artistic practice and work-flow. This project aims to ‘dissect’ Northern European sketchbooks from a technical, functional, and comparative perspective. As these booklets create unprecedented glimpses into personal practices, comparative research into their functions will elucidate the foundational elements of disegno practice in the North.
One of the most exciting, recent findings is that certain sketchbooks were originally not used as books at all, but functioned as loose quires that took on their present form only much later. Working in unbound gatherings enabled conceptual or thematic ordering of the drawings, rather than sketching simply where there was space. Currently, Daantje Meuwissen is working on a reconstruction of the Errera-sketchbook, attributed to the workshop of the Master of Hoogstraten, Jan de Beer and Joachim Patinir and made in the 1520-1530s in Antwerp, now kept in the Museum of Fine Arts Brussels. As the book was rebound in the nineteenth century in a new order, the original sequence is lost. In her research, Daantje is using material clues on the folio’s such as water stains, binding holes, watermarks, and remnants of drawing materials to piece together forensic evidence that leads to a possible reconstruction. She is also teaming up with the Computer Sciences department of Utrecht University, to train the computer with AI algorithms that detect patterns in the sketches.
Photograph 1: Curator of Drawings Stefaan Hautekeete and Daantje Meuwissen examining the Errera-sketchbook in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Brussels, together with the Utrecht Research-Master students, september 2023.