Jheronimus Bosch (1450 ca.- 1516) a 500 anni dalla morte, studi e ricerche in margine alla mostra.

The article examines the initiatives undertaken in Holland during 2016 to celebrate 500 years from the death of the artist Hieronymus van Aken (1450-1516 circa), better known as Hieronymus Bosch. In particular the article looks at the research and conservation project “Bosch Research and Conservation Project” (BRCP) and the exhibition linked to it: “Jheronimus Bosch visioenen van een genie,’s-Hertogenbosch” (Noordbrabants Museum, 13 February-8 May 2016).
The BRCP is the result of collaboration between various institutions (University of Nimega, home of art historians Matthijs Ilsink and Jos Koldeweij (curators); the Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam; Department of Conservation and Restoration of Amsterdam University; the Restoration Foundation Atelier Limburg (SRAL) of Maastricht; the Noordbrabants Museum of Den Bosch; Queen’s University of Kingston, Ontario; and the University of Arizona, with the Tucson College of Optical Sciences. From 2010 to 2016, the BRCP undertook to classify and restore all Bosch’s works by examining them with the most up-to-date technologies of analysis applied to art (X-ray radiography, infrared reflecto-graphic analysis, infrared photography, macro-photography, dendrochronology analysis of wood, under-drawing studies). All the works involved in the scientific project and the exhibition underwent restoration and conservation. In Italy, the project concerned Bosch’s Venetian paintings in oil on wooden panels, two triptychs from the Academy Gallery, the triptych of Santa Liberata (1495-1505 circa) and the triptych of the Eremites (1495- 1505 circa), as well as four panels with the Visions of the Hereafter (1505-15 circa) from Palazzo Grimani. The works were restored between 2013 and 2016 by Italian restorers with the contribution of the Panel Painting Initiative of the Getty Foundation (PPI).
An integral part of the BRCP project is making the research accessible and usable for the international scientific community through an internet website (http://boschproject.org/) using a new system known as synchronized image viewers developed during the restoration of the Venetian works (http://boschproject.org/bosch_in_venice.html). This innovation is of great help in the conservation and restoration fields as well as being useful for studying works of art in detail.