Celebrating 20 years of the Flemish Masterpiece Decree
14 Nov 2023Flemish collections are a treasure trove of cultural heritage. If an item or collection is rare or indispensable to the Flemish Community in terms of archaeology, history, cultural history, art or science, it may be recognised as a masterpiece – and since 2003 the Flemish government has been seeking to protect and secure the most important cultural goods through the Masterpiece Decree. Masterpieces have been a must-see on our art and heritage image database, artinflanders.be, for many years. Want to find out how we’re joining in the celebrations as the Masterpiece Decree blows out 20 candles?
At artinflanders.be, we make high-quality images of art and heritage from Flemish collections accessible and ready for reuse. You can view over 700 images of masterpieces there and, if the rights status allows, download them for free. Behind the scenes, we’re constantly working to expand this offering and enhance image quality. Since the beginning of this year, for example, free downloads have been available from artinflanders.be in a larger format – which is really handy for anyone wanting to get creative with them!
From artinflanders.be to OKV and the MAS
Pictured: Cover of the publication Zeldzaam & Onmisbaar - twintig jaar Topstukkendecreet (‘Rare & Indispensable - twenty years of the Masterpiece Decree’) © Flemish Community, Department of Culture, Youth and Media / OKV
2023 marks a celebratory year for the Masterpiece Decree – and at meemoo, we’ve contributed to several initiatives to highlight this anniversary. Thanks to earlier digitisations and new recordings we made for the exhibition celebrating 20 years of masterpieces, we’ve been able to provide high-quality imagery for the publication 'Zeldzaam & Onmisbaar - twintig jaar Topstukkendecreet' (‘Rare & Indispensable - twenty years of the Masterpiece Decree’) from OKV in collaboration with the Flemish Department of Culture, Youth and Media. You can see some of the images from the publication in this article.
30 additional masterpieces digitised and a digital masterpiece tour
Pictured: some of the masterpieces we digitised for the ‘Zeldzaam en Onmisbaar’ (‘Rare and Indispensable’) exhibition at the Museum aan de Stroom in Antwerp. Source reference: see below.
Have you visited our content partner – Museum aan de Stroom – in Antwerp yet? Last month, the 'Zeldzaam & Onmisbaar' (‘Rare & Indispensable’) exhibition opened there in honour of 20 years of the Masterpiece Decree. Around 100 masterpieces from the collections of 35 museums, churches, libraries and private collectors were brought together in one place to help celebrate the occasion. From the only drawing by Michelangelo in Flanders to works by renowned names such as Rubens, Magritte and Bacon: these unique pieces can be admired at the Museum aan de Stroom until 25 February 2024. More info.
At the request of MAS, we digitised about 30 additional masterpieces for this exhibition. You can also admire the digital images at artinflanders.be. At the end of the exhibition, visitors will find a nice bonus: a video we created that highlights even more masterpieces! Take a seat and enjoy a plethora of digital masterpieces that aren’t part of the exhibition (perhaps because they are too fragile or cannot be transported), but are available on artinflanders.be.
Pictured: setup for the video we created for the Zeldzaam & Onmisbaar (‘Rare & Indispensable’) exhibition at MAS.
A still from the video we created for the Zeldzaam & Onmisbaar (‘Rare & Indispensable’) expo at MAS. Pictured: detail from De Kruisoprichting (‘The Elevation of the Cross’) by Peter Paul Rubens, collection: Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal Antwerp, artinflanders.be, photographer: Hugo Maertens, licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Moreover, in addition to our ongoing efforts to digitise and make masterpieces accessible, over the past two years we have been able to further focus on the digitisation of masterpieces in the GIVE Masterpieces project – thanks to funding from the Flemish Government’s Resilience Recovery Plan. Find out all the details here.
Image credits in slider:
Stilleven (‘Still Life’), by Peter Willebeeck, Snijders & Rockoxhuis collection, artinflanders.be, photo: Cedric Verhelst, public domain.
Haarnet (‘Hairnet’), by unknown, Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk Sint-Truiden collection, artinflanders.be, photo: Cedric Verhelst, public domain.
Gegraveerde rolsteen (‘Engraved Pebble’), by anonymous, Museum De Kolonie collection, artinflanders.be, photo: Cedric Verhelst, public domain.
Kaakreliekhouder (‘Jaw Reliquary’), by anonymous, Sint-Catharinakerk Maaseik collection, artinflanders.be, photo: Cedric Verhelst, public domain.