The NIKI develops its own research projects and has built up internationally recognised expertise in three areas of interest in the early modern period: Italian art, the artistic relations between the Netherlands and Italy and the history of drawing and printmaking.
Our scientific staff are regular guest curators of exhibitions and contribute to scientific publications and congresses.
Region-by-region, scientific planning, analysis and access to the more than 10.000 Dutch and Flemish paintings in Italian public ownership. Cultural heritage that was exported to Italy or produced there on the spot will be made accessible and recorded in words and images for international science and a wider public in an English-language publication by region.
Part I is devoted to the region of Liguria. With 441 paintings, it was published in 1998.
Part II, with 909 paintings in Lombardy, appeared in two separate volumes in 2001-2002.
Part III, devoted to Piedmont, with 1063 paintings, appeared in 2012.
Part IV on Tuscany is under preparation, the expected publication date is 2021-2022.
Between 1965 and 1995 the Italian art dealer Luigi Magnaguagno collected an impressive amount of visual material about more than a thousand Dutch and Flemish painters from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. This archive was acquired by the NIKI in 1996. The aim of the project is the scientific unlocking of the richly variegated visual material.
Internships for (research) master’s students are available within this project. Students acquire specific knowledge about the history of Dutch and Flemish painters from the period 1450-1700, are familiarised with attribution issues, provenance research and iconographic issues, and are introduced to international standards for (digital) information processing.
The internship is ideally suited for students who want to link their interest in Dutch art to working in an international academic environment.
For more information and applications contact: sman@nikiflorence.org.
The Istituto Centrale per la Grafica (ICG) in Rome provides funds for experienced art historians to carry out research at the NIKI for the digital accessibility of the ICG’s permanent collection of prints and drawings.
The NIKI is open to individual research that falls outside our projects, for example in the field of material-technical research and the restoration of artworks, Dutch-Italian relations, design, architecture, cultural history etc. We like to think along with you about subjects and perspectives. Individual researchers with their own thesis subject or research project are encouraged to make use of our research facilities. We can also mediate and bring students into contact with other institutes.
Students and (future) PhD students from the participating universities may be eligible for a grant from the Friends of the Institute for Art History in Florence.
Graduates in art history who are pursuing, or planning to pursue, a PhD in the Netherlands under the supervision of a university professor may apply for a NIKI Friends PhD Fellowship.
NIKI fellowships are available to outstanding PhD students and postdoctoral researchers affiliated with universities in the Netherlands or abroad, offering them the opportunity to stay at the institute and conduct their own research.
The NIKI Scholar-in-residence Programme offers established scholars in the Humanities working in the Netherlands or abroad the opportunity to spend a research stay of up to three months in Florence, as a distinguished guest of the stimulating working environment at the Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for Art History (NIKI).
The programme is open to senior scholars in the Humanities (full and associate professors or equivalent research positions) who enjoy a well established international reputation and are affiliated with universities or other research institutions in the Netherlands or abroad. The programme particularly invites applications from scholars working on projects that connect to the research profile of the NIKI and/or the city of Florence and its region.
— Call 2025/2026—
The NWIB Visiting Professors Programme offers assistant professors, associate professors and full professors at participating universities (see below) a unique opportunity to work undisturbed in an inspiring and stimulating environment. This programme enables you to stay at one of the five Netherlands Scientific Institutes Abroad (NWIBs) for a period of three months to conduct research, give lectures and contribute to the intellectual climate at the Institute.
The NWIBs are in Florence, Rome, St. Petersburg, Athens and Cairo:
* Due to current restrictions, professorships are not available at the Netherlands Institute in Saint Petersburg.
There are many publications provided or made possible by the NIKI by Dutch and foreign researchers and scholars who stayed at the institute for research or participation in symposiums.
In 1983 we created our own publication series, with the monumental Repertory of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Italian Public Collections Furthermore, we published congress collections, exhibition catalogues and other scientific publications. Until 2014 this series was published by Centro Di (Florence).
Since 2015 our own publications have appeared in the series:
NIKI Studies in Netherlands-Italian Art History, published by Brill (Leiden). The series contains collections of articles and monographs on Italian art as well as Dutch and Flemish art and artists in Italy. Particular emphasis is put on the artistic exchange and mutual influence between Italy and the Low Countries.
Various titles can be ordered directly from the NIKI by sending an e-mail to: niki@nikiflorence.org
The NIKI regularly organises lectures and multi-day international conferences.
In addition to the lectures and symposiums in Florence, we organise the annual NIKI symposium ‘Italy and the Netherlands. Artistic interactions’ in collaboration with lecturers and researchers from the participating universities, colleagues from the RDK in The Hague or museum institutions such as the Rijksmuseum and Teylers Museum, relying on Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht as permanent venue.
In the Netherlands, we make substantive contributions to symposiums organised by partner universities, the Dutch National Research School for Art History (OSK) and Dutch museums.
This conference explores how artistic expression and geographical awareness intersected in late fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italy, a time of increasing artistic individualism and mobility.
Gabriel Schwake is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Interested in the influences of finance, nationalism, conflicts, and identities on the process of spatial production, Gabriel’s current research project explores the relationship between debt and urban development. During his time at the NIKI, Gabriel will study the inception of Florentine debt-reliant urbanisation and the ways in which it influenced the development of the city.
This expert meeting brings together art historians, museum professionals, and digital humanities practitioners to investigate how digital tools can illuminate Renaissance artistic practices. The day will feature collaborative discussions around workshop practices, artistic collaboration, and intermedial exchange.
While long overlooked in art historical studies, over the past two decades body hair has emerged as a significant field of research, offering new perspectives on Early Modern visual culture. The presence or absence of body hair serves as an indicator of aesthetic (or artistic) preferences and prevailing social norms specific to certain periods and locations, revealing complex intersections between art and real life. This two-day workshop will take an interdisciplinary approach to exploring body hair in visual culture, focusing on themes such as gender norms, religious symbolism, artistic practices, and cultural variations.
Astrid Van Oyen, Professor of Archaeology at Radboud University, will discuss the archaeological findings from the Marzuolo site in Tuscany, revealing the dramatic turns of rural Roman life, including a failed wine business, a smithy fire, and a potter’s innovations. The lecture also explores archaeological methods and the importance of reconstructing everyday lives in history.
This series explores the relationship between Renaissance art and its modern descendants, examining how contemporary artists engage with historical art to create new meanings. Topics include narration, formal concerns, icons, body symbolism, and gender in portraiture. The lectures aim to highlight the relevance of the past to contemporary art practices, promoting a connected understanding of art across time.
Dutch University Institute for Art History
Viale Torricelli 5
50125 Florence, Italy
phone +39055221612
opening hours: Mon-Fri 9.00-17.30
