Elias Scerpswert (? – ?), Bust of St Frederick, 1362, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

THE HAGUE.- CODART, an international network of some 700 museum curators of Dutch and Flemish art, announced the CODART Canon. The CODART Canon consists of 100 Dutch and Flemish works of art dating from before 1750 that are of particular importance to the history of art. The list can now be found on canon.codart.nl.

Results of the ballots
On the basis of two ballots (one held among museum curators followed by a second one among the general public), a special committee established the resulting canon. The list naturally includes big names such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens, Johannes Vermeer, Jan van Eyck and Jheronimus Bosch, but there are also many works of art by lesser-known artists such as Geertruydt Roghman, Johan Gregor van der Schardt, and Claes Sluter. Although paintings outnumber other kinds of artworks, the list also includes a number of striking objects, such as a medieval chandelier from the Church of St. Walburga in Zutphen and bridal gloves dating from ca.1600–1625 from the collection of the Rijksmuseum.

Maartje Beekman, director CODART: “We see the canon as a starting-point, a guide to help navigate the vast quantity of Old Master art that is on view in museum collections throughout the world. The voting and the canon itself are also intended as a way of introducing the public to some of the lesser-known works of art from this period. In addition, we hope that the canon will encourage a lively debate, as it has already done among fellow curators.”

As things stand, the list includes five female artists. In part, this is because fewer women than men were active creators of art before 1750. Even so, it is highly questionable whether these artists would have been included in a top 100 in the past; conversely, the number of women included in a future canon may well increase. This is a good example of the timebound nature of a canon and emphasizes the importance of viewing it in its particular context, as reflecting a particular moment in time.

Jacques de Baerze (active before 1384 – after 1399), Melchior Broederlam (ca. 1355 – ca. 1411), Retable of the Crucifixion, 1391 — 1399, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, Dijon.

Rules
To ensure that the CODART Canon constitutes a representative selection, CODART drew up a number of rules. For instance, it set a maximum number of two works per art form for each artist. Furthermore, to ensure diversity among the different art forms, it set the numbers per category at 60 paintings, 10 drawings, 10 prints, 10 sculptures and 10 works of applied art. This explains why neither Vermeer’s Girl with the Pearl Earring nor Rembrandt’s The Jewish Bride ended up being included in the canon, in spite of the many votes they received.

The next step
Now that the masterpieces have been selected, CODART has set itself the task of informing the wider public about them. CODART need to explain why these 100 Dutch and Flemish works of art from before 1750 are considered to be particularly important. To start with, this information will be gathered and shared on CODART’s online platform. Following on from that, there are plans to produce a book and to make short videos and podcasts about the CODART Canon.

Claes Sluter (ca. 1360 – 1405/1406), The Well of Moses, 1395 — 1404, Chartreuse de Champmol, Dijon. Photo: Steven Zucker (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

Anonymous Artist (? – ?), Chandelier, ca. 1395, St Walburgis Church, Zutphen. Photo: Tim Wengelaar©

Limbourg Brothers (ca. 1385 – 1416), Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, ca. 1412 — 1416, Musée Condé, Chantilly. ©Photo. R.M.N. / R.-G. OjŽda

Anonymous Artist (? – ?), Beaker with Apes, ca. 1425 — 1450, The Cloisters Collection, New York

Master of Flémalle (1375/1379 – 1444/1445), The Flémalle Panels (St Veronica with the Veil, Madonna Breastfeeding, The Trinity), ca. 1428 — 1430, Städel Museum, Frankfurt.

Jan van Eyck (1390/1399 – 1441), Hubert van Eyck (1366/1370 – 1426), Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, 1432, St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent.

Jan van Eyck (1390/1399 – 1441), Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife, 1434, The National Gallery, London.

Rogier van der Weyden (1399/1400 – 1464), Descent from the Cross, 1443, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

Dieric Bouts (1410/1420 – 1475), Altarpiece of the Holy Sacrament, 1464 — 1468, St Peter's Church, Leuven.

Gérard Loyet (active 1466 – 1502/1503), Reliquary of Charles the Bold (with St. George), 1467 — 1471, Cathedral of St Paul, Liège © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché KN002235.

Hugo van der Goes (ca. 1440 – 1482), The Adoration of the Kings, Known as 'Monforte Altar', ca. 1470, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

Petrus Christus (ca. 1415/1420 – 1475/1476), Portrait of a Young Girl, 1470, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

Master FVB (active ca. 1475 – 1500), Two Peasants Quarrelling over a Game of Skittles, ca. 1475 — 1500 ©Trustees of the British Museum.

Master of Mary of Burgundy (active ca. 1470 – 1490), The Hours of Mary of Burgundy, ca. 1477, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna; fol. 14v: The Virgin Mary and a Lady with her Prayer Book.

Geertgen tot Sint Jans (1455/1465 – 1485/1495), John the Baptist in the Wilderness, ca. 1480 — 1490, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin.

Hans Memling (1430/1440 – 1494), Dyptich of Maarten van Nieuwenhove, 1487, Sint-Janshospitaal, Bruges.

Jheronimus Bosch (ca. 1450 – 1516), Garden of Earthly Delights, 1490 — 1500, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

Jan Borman (? – ca. 1520), Altarpiece of St George, 1493, Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels ©KMKG, Brussels.

Jan Gossart (1478 – 1532), The Spinario, boots, helmets and lion's heads, ca. 1500 — 1532, Leiden University Libraries, Leiden. Photo: Universitaire Bibliotheken Leiden (CC-BY).

Renier van Thienen (1465 – 1498), Funerary Monument of Mary of Burgundy, 1502, Church of Our Lady, Bruges. Photo: Stad Brugge.

Jheronimus Bosch (ca. 1450 – 1516), The Owl’s Nest, 1505 — 1515, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

Quinten Massys (1465/1466 – 1530), Triptych with the Family of St Anne, 1509, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

Lucas van Leyden (1494 – 1533), The Milkmaid, 1510.

Anonymous Artist (? – ?), Enclosed Garden with S. Elisabeth, Ursula and Catharina, ca. 1513 — 1524, Museum Hof van Busleyden, Mechelen. Photo: www.beslotenhofjes.com

Joachim Patinir (1475/1480 – 1524), Landscape with Charon Crossing the Styx, 1520 — 1524, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

Willem and Jan Dermoyen (active ca. 1530 – 1550), after Bernard van Orley (before 1490 – 1542), Battle of Pavia (Tapestry Series), ca. 1525 — 1531, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Napels.

Jan Gossart (1478 – 1532), Danae, 1527, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Photo: Alte Pinakothek, Munich (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Maarten van Heemskerck (1498 – 1574), Family Portrait, ca. 1530, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel.

Jan van Hemessen (ca. 1500 – 1556/1557), Tavern Scene, ca. 1540, Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe.

Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen (1504 – 1559), Tapestry Cartoons for Charles V of the Conquest of Tunis, 1535, 1546 — 1550, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna © KHM-Museumsverband, Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie.

Pieter Aertsen (ca. 1508 – 1575), Butcher’s Stall, 1551, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh.

Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502 – 1550), Customs and Fashions of the Turks (Ces Moeurs et fachons de faire de Turcz), 1553, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Frans Floris (I) (1519/1520 – 1570), Fall of the Rebel Angels, 1554, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.

Dirck Pietersz. Crabeth (1510/1520 – 1574), Wouter Pietersz. Crabeth (ca. 1520 – 1589), Joachim Wtewael (1566 – 1638), and others ( – ), Stained Glass Windows and Cartoons for the St John's Church in Gouda, 1555 — 1601, St John's Church, Gouda. Photo: Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed.

Joannes van Doetecum (ca. 1530 – 1605), Lucas van Doetecum (? – before 1589), after the Master of the Small Landscapes (active ca. 1550 – 1560), Farm, from the Small Landscapes, 1559 — 1561, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Anthonis Mor (1519 – 1575), Portrait of Sir Thomas Gresham and his Wife Anne Ferneley, ca. 1560 — 1566, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530 – 1569), Hunters in the Snow, 1565, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1526/1530 – 1569), The Beekeepers and the Birdnester, ca. 1568, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin.

Johan Gregor van der Schardt (ca. 1530 – in or after 1581), Self Portrait, ca. 1573, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Hendrick Goltzius (1558 – 1617), after Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem (1562 – 1638), Tantalus, from The Four Disgracers, 1588, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Adriaen de Vries (ca. 1556 – 1626), Mercury Abducting Psyche, 1593, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Photo: RMN-Grand Palais / René-Gabriel Ojéda.

Hendrick Goltzius (1558 – 1617), Sine Cerere et Libero friget Venus, ca. 1600 — 1603, Philadephia Museum of Art, Philadephia.

Anonymous Artist (? – ?), Bridal Gloves, ca. 1600 — 1625, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Roelant Savery (1576 – 1639), Two Jewish Scholars from the 'Naer het leven' Series, 1603 — 1613, Städel Museum, Frankfurt © Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main.

Jacques de Gheyn (II) (1565 – 1629), Karel van Mander on His Deathbed, 1606, Städel Museum, Frankfurt.

Hendrick Avercamp (1585 – 1634), Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters, ca. 1608, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Claes Jansz. Visscher (ca. 1587 – 1652), Plaisante Plaetsen, Print Series of 12 Landscapes, 1610 — 1620. Title Page, British Museum, London / © Trustees of the British Museum.

Adam van Vianen (I) (1568/1569 – 1627), Lidded Ewer, 1614, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Hendrick de Keyser (1665 – 1621), Tomb of William of Orange, 1614 — 1623, New Church, Delft. Photo: Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed.

Clara Peeters (1580/1590 – ca. 1621), Still Life with Cheeses, Almonds and Pretzels, ca. 1615, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Frans Snijders (1579 – 1657), Four Market Scenes, Fruit Stall, ca. 1615, Stage Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg.

Gerard van Honthorst (1592 – 1656), The Mocking of Christ, ca. 1617, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles.

Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568 – 1625), The Five Senses (Series), 1617 — 1618, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640), Nicolas Rubens with Coral Necklace, ca. 1619, Albertina, Vienna.

Frans Hals (1582/1583 – 1666), Laughing Cavalier, 1624, The Wallace Collection, London.

Hercules Segers (1589/1590 – ca. 1640), The Mossy Tree, ca. 1625 — 1630, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Hendrick ter Brugghen (1588 – 1629), Saint Sebastian Tended by Irene, 1625, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin.

Willem van Haecht (II) (1593 – 1637), Picture Gallery of Cornelis van der Geest, 1628, Rubens House Museum, Antwerp. Photo: Bart Huysmans & Michel Wuyts / public domain.

François Du Quesnoy (1597 – 1643), Santa Susanna, 1629, Santa Maria di Loreto, Rome.

Anthony van Dyck (1599 – 1641), Portrait of Pieter Brueghel the Younger, from the Iconographie, ca. 1630 — 1646, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Boston.

 Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640), The Three Graces, 1630 — 1635, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.

 Judith Leyster (1609 – 1660), The Young Flute Player, ca. 1630, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), Portrait of Saskia, 1633, Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin. © Photo: Kupferstichkabinett der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz / Jörg P. Anders (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Anthony van Dyck (1599 – 1641), Charles I at the Hunt, ca. 1635, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

Pieter Claesz. (1597/1598 – 1660), Breakfast Piece, 1636, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

Adriaen Brouwer (1605/1606 – 1638), The Smokers, ca. 1636, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Jacob Jordaens (1593 – 1678), The King Drinks, ca. 1640, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), Officers and other civic guardsmen of District II in Amsterdam, under the command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq and Lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch, 1642, City of Amsterdam on loan to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Photo: public domain..

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), The Three Trees, 1643, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Jan van Goyen (1596 – 1656), View of Haarlem and Haarlemmermeer, 1646, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Paulus Potter (1625 – 1654), The Bull, 1647, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Artus Quellinus (I) (1609 – 1668), Relief Tribunal, 1648 — 1665, Royal Palace, Amsterdam.

Jacob van Campen (1596 – 1657), Jacob Jordaens (1593 – 1678), Gerard van Honthorst (1592 – 1656), Caesar van Everdingen (1616/1617 – 1678), and others ( – ), Oranjezaal, 1648 — 1652, Huis ten Bosch Palace, The Hague. Photo: Rijksdienst voor Cultureel Erfgoed.

Bartholomeus van der van der Helst (1613 – 1670), Banquet at the Crossbowmen's Guild in Celebration of the Treaty of Münster, 1648, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Geertruydt Roghman (1625 – 1657), Household Tasks, 1648 — 1652, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Pieter Saenredam (1597 – 1665), Interior of the Sint-Odulphuskerk in Assendelft, 1649, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

 Gerard Dou (1613 – 1675), Sleeping Dog, 1650, Museum of Fine Arts, Van Otterloo Collection, Boston.

Jan Asselijn (1600/1616 – 1652), The Threatened Swan, ca. 1650, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Gerard ter Borch (II) (1611 – 1681), Gallant Conversation, Known as ‘The Paternal Admonition', ca. 1654, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Carel Fabritius (1622 – 1654), The Goldfinch, 1654, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/1629 – 1682), The Jewish Cemetery, 1654 — 1655, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit.

Aelbert Cuyp (1620 – 1691), View of Dordrecht from the North, ca. 1655, Ascott House, BuckinghamshireAscott, The Anthony de Rothschild Collection (National Trust), © NTPL/John Hammond

Pieter de Hooch (1629 – after 1684), The Courtyard of a House in Delft, 1658, The National Gallery, London.

Pieter van Anraedt (ca. 1635 – 1678), Still Life with Earthenware Jug and Clay Pipes, 1658, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675), View of Delft, ca. 1660 — 1661, Mauritshuis, The Hague. Photo: Mauritshuis.

Johannes Vermeer (1632 – 1675), The Milkmaid, ca. 1660, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Gabriel Metsu (1629 – 1667), Woman Reading a Letter and Man Writing a Letter, ca. 1664 — 1666, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.

Jan Steen (1625/1626 – 1679), The Feast of Saint Nicholas, 1665 — 1668, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669), Self Portrait, ca. 1665, Kenwood House, London.

Gerrit Berckheyde (1638 – 1698), View of the Golden Bend in the Herengracht, Known as "The Golden Bend", 1671 — 1672, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Meindert Hobbema (1638 – 1709), The Avenue at Middelharnis, 1689, The National Gallery, London.

The "Greek A" Factory (1685 – 1701), led by Adrianus Kocx (? – 1701), Tulip Vase, ca. 1694, Royal Collection Trust, Hampton Court Palace, London, Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2019

Anonymous Artist (? – ?), Dollhouse, 1699 — 1743, Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 – 1717), Pomegranate and Menelaus Blue Morpho Butterfly, 1702 — 1703, The Royal Collection Trust, Windsor Castle, London, Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Adriaen Coorte (1659/1664 – 1707), Still Life with Wild Strawberries, 1705, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

Rachel Ruysch (1664 – 1750), Flower Still Life, 1726, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo.

Laurent Delvaux (1696 – 1778), Pulpit, 1741 — 1745, St Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent © KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium), cliché DI074755