New-York Historical Society, New York
Catalogue of Works on Paper
$175,000 awarded January 2003

The New-York Historical Society received Getty funding to prepare a scholarly catalogue of its works on paper, including more than 8,000 individual works and 40 sketchbooks in ink, graphite, chalk, watercolor, gouache, pastel, oil, and collage. Founded in 1804, the Society has one of the earliest assembled and most significant public collections of drawings in the United States. It includes the work of fine artists, folk artists, naturalists, explorers, and illustrators. Highlights of the collection include a group of 500 watercolors by John James Audubon, a 240-inch panoramic drawing of New York from 1842, and works by Albert Bierstadt, Thomas Cole, and the Ashcan School. The Getty-funded project follows the physical consolidation of the works within the newly formed Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture. Grant funds are being used to hire a consulting curator to research the collection and complete a full scholarly catalogue—the first ever for this collection. Information on approximately 1,800 key works will be included in a published catalogue, together with interpretive essays about the collection; information on all 8,000 works will be made available on an accompanying DVD.

Swedish National Museum, Stockholm
Flemish Paintings Catalogue
$155,000 awarded January 2003

The Swedish National Museum received a grant for a scholarly catalogue of its Flemish paintings. Founded in 1792, the Museum's collections feature European paintings, drawings, and sculpture. Its Flemish collection, which includes key seventeenth-century paintings such as Jordaens' The Adoration of the Shepherds, Rubens' The Three Graces, and Van Dyck's St. Jerome, is the focus of the current cataloguing project. As part of the project, each of the 240 paintings in the collection will undergo detailed technical examinations with the aid of x-radiography and infrared reflectography. Curators expect that these examinations will shed new light on the relationship of preparatory studies and underdrawings to the finished paintings. This new technical material, together with information about earlier conservation treatments and an analysis of each work's material structure and painting technique, will be included in the catalogue entries, in addition to standard cataloguing and interpretive information. The resulting catalogue will represent the third and final volume of the Museum's Dutch and Flemish Paintings, completing this long-term scholarly project. Grant funds will contribute to the costs of the technical examinations, research assistance, and the work of a consulting curator over a two-year period.

See a complete listing of grants awarded.