Introduction
In December 2021, during the last and hard lockdown of the Corona pandemic, a call for papers was launched for the symposium Close Encounters : Cross-Cultural Exchange between the Low Countries and Britain 1600-1830, to be held at the RKD on 22 and 23 September 2022. The occasion of the symposium was the launch of the richly annotated and illustrated digital English version of Horst Gerson’s chapter on Britain from his Ausbreitung und Nachwirkung der holländischen Malerei des 17. Jahrhunderts of 1942 (Dispersal and Legacy of Dutch Painting of the 17th Century). Before 1942, the study of Dutch art and artists in Britain was largely uncharted territory. In the last thirty years, research on early modern artists migration and cultural exchange between the Low Countries and Great Britain has progressed rapidly and in various directions. In particular, the Dutch and Flemish artists community in London and the careers of individual artists at the English and Scottish courts have received attention. The same goes for the collection history of Netherlandish art in the UK. The launch of the annotated and translated version of Gerson’s text marked the perfect occasion to rethink, discuss and contextualize his original findings with current knowledge.
The call for papers was jointly written by the academic committee set up for the occasion, which included Karen Hearn, Angela Jager, Sander Karst, David Taylor and Joanna Woodall. It called for unpublished papers on a broad range of areas relating to Dutch and Flemish artists, artisans and art production in Britain. These included painting, drawing, graphic arts, tapestry, sculpture and architecture, collecting and the art market, as well as the contribution of Dutch and Flemish migrants to many forms of material culture. The response to the call was overwhelming, indicating a strong commitment to new research in this area. This enabled the committee to create a varied and rich programme with new perspectives. Recurring themes in the various papers were: cross-cultural networks and collaboration, the relationships of Netherlandish artists to British patrons, collecting and the trade in artistic goods. In addition, various forms of cultural and artistic transmission and exchange were addressed. Despite the fact that the symposium was hybrid, most of the speakers were able to come to The Hague in September 2022. Discussions between the speakers, moderators and audience were an important part of the programme.
Academic comittee of Close Encounters
From left to right: Angela Jager, Joanna Woodall, Karen Hearn, Rieke van Leeuwen, Sander Karst and David Taylor
There was ample response to the committee's request to transform the September 2022 talks into the scientific papers: 14 of them could be included in this volume. My thanks go to the authors – Gerry Alabone, Ellinoor Bergvelt, Remmelt Daalder, Michele Fredericksen, Allison Goudie and Imogen Tedbury, Rica Jones, Ulrike Kern, Amy Lim, John Loughman, Quirine van der Meer Mohr, Eleanor Stephenson, Rebecca Welkens and Adam White – both for their valuable input to the 2022 symposium and for the energy and attention they devoted to the publication of their contributions. Furthermore, neither the conference nor this publication would have been possible without the efforts of the members of the academic committee. I thank them warmly for their inspiring collaboration, the lively discussions, their contribution in the editing of this volume and – last but not least – for the generosity and the pleasure with which they shared their expertise.
Rieke van Leeuwen