STudies In Painting Sizes

STIPS systematically explores the introduction and extent of the use of regulated standard formats of primarily panel paintings and their frames in the Netherlands from 1400 to 1800. From this long and highly important chapter in the history of Western art, many tens of thousands of paintings and frames have been preserved. The aim is to inventorize and describe this enormous quantity of massively important art works and their frames in order to facilitate their conservation and to increase public awareness of its significance. The project will generate significant background information for conservators and art historians alike to acknowledge and understand the importance of sizes and formats of paintings and their frames. The significance of this reaches even further as it involves not only all panel paintings but also paintings on other supports like canvas and copper plates. Research on these aspects constitutes a crucial contribution to the expertise necessary to understand the painted heritage of the Low Countries, which is a precondition to be able to preserve it.