Are you an undergraduate or graduate student interested in learning more about exciting projects and possible career paths in the field of Dutch and Flemish art? Designed by students for students, Center for Netherlandish Art (CNA) Student Sessions connect you with various experts in Netherlandish art and history and give you a chance to engage in conversation with them in an informal setting.

Sessions are guided by student concerns and questions, prompting experts to reflect on their current work as well as their academic, personal, and professional journeys. This unique forum gives local and international students the opportunity to connect with one another, opening new pathways for innovation, access, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

In this session, hear from Professor Lieke van Deinsen, assistant research professor at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven). Learn more about how Professor van Deinsen navigates the research and writing process, and get insight into her research on the intersections between literature and portraiture, including the Panpoëticon Batavûm Project.

About the Speaker

Lieke van Deinsen conducts research on the visual and textual representations of female authorship and authority in early modern Europe. In 2017, she completed her PhD on processes of literary canon formation (Literaire erflaters. Canonvorming in tijden van culturele crisis, Verloren 2017). As Johan Huizinga Fellow, she published The Panpoëticon Batavûm and The Portrait of the Author as a Celebrity (Rijksmuseum 2016). She is, among others, part of the editorial boards of Early Modern Low Countries (EMLC) and guest curator at Teylers Museum, Haarlem.

Previous guest speakers have included Carrie Anderson, professor of Art and Architectural History at Middlebury College; Jessie Park, Nina and Lee Griggs Assistant Curator of European Art, Yale University Art Gallery; Pieter Roelofs, head of Fine and Decorative Arts at the Rijksmuseum; Dr. Abbie Vandivere, paintings conservator, Mauritshuis; Judith Noorman, associate professor of Early Modern Art History at the University of Amsterdam; Bart Fransen, head of the Centre for the Study of the Flemish Primitives at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, Brussels; and Anna Koopstra, curator of Early Netherlandish Painting at Musea Brugge, Bruges.

The 2024–25 season of Student Sessions is organized by Tanne Bloks and Jessica Sternbach, with support from the Center for Netherlandish Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

The Founders of the Center for Netherlandish Art at the MFA are Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo and Susan and Matthew Weatherbie.