conrad whelan 42 fellowship

The purpose of the Fellowship Programme is to encourage and support scholarly investigation, and to contribute to academic discourses while strengthening bonds between the museum and universities. The programme enables highly talented candidates to base part of their research at the Rijksmuseum, and offers access to the museum’s expertise, collections, library and laboratories. Furthermore, it facilitates opportunities for Fellows to engage in workshops and excursions to encourage exchange of knowledge—both amongst themselves and the broader museum audience.

This Fellowship centres on the Netherlands as an international intersection of art, artists, artistic ideas and materials. Recent decades have seen an increased scholarly interest in themes such as mobility, cultural networks, shared cultural heritage and globalization. The Rijksmuseum has played an active role in these developments, with international interfaces with Netherlandish art central to its collection and exhibition policy. The Fellowship aims to stimulate high-quality, object-based research, focusing on the Low Countries as a hub of international cultural exchange.

Possible Research Topics

Proposals may address a wide range of subjects, including but not limited to:

• Migration of artists to and from the Netherlands

• International exchange of art in the Low Countries

• Trade in art materials and naturalia for collectors

• Artistic and personal identity and style

• Artistic and social strategies

• Shared cultural heritage

• Intercultural networks

The Fellowship promotes diversity and seeks to attract early career scholars from varied social, ethnic and economic backgrounds. It will preferably lead to a publication, developed in consultation with Rijksmuseum academic advisors.