Netherlands Institute for Art History facts for kids
The Netherlands Institute for Art History, also known as RKD, is a big place in The Hague, The Netherlands. It's all about studying art history and has a huge library. The letters RKD stand for "Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie", which was the older Dutch name of the institute.
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Contents
How the RKD Started
The Netherlands Institute for Art History opened in 1932. Three important men helped create its amazing collection.
Cornelis Hofstede de Groot's Gift
The first person was Cornelis Hofstede de Groot (1863–1930). He loved collecting art, studied art history, and worked at museums. In his will (a legal document saying what happens to your things after you die), he gave the RKD his large collection of documents. These included about 100,000 photos of Dutch paintings and drawings from the 17th century.
Frits Lugt's Contributions
The second person was Frits Lugt (1884-1970). He was also a collector and an art historian. He gave the institute over 100,000 copies of paintings, 22,000 auction catalogues, and thousands of books.
E.A. van Beresteyn's Collection
The third person was E.A. van Beresteyn (1876-1948). He was an archivist (someone who collects and organizes historical documents) and a historian. He gave the institute many materials about Dutch portrait painting.
What the RKD Has Today
The institute has a very large library. It holds 450,000 books and about 3,000 magazines.
Digital Collections Online
A lot of their materials are now digital. This means they have very high-quality pictures of book and magazine pages. You can see these pictures on the internet. Many paintings and drawings are also digitized and available online.
Artist Information and More
The RKD website has many pages about different artists. These pages give information about their lives and their artwork. Each artist has their own special RKD number. The website also has a thesaurus. This is a list of words used to describe art and architecture.
Images for kids
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The RKD shares its building with other Dutch institutions. You can see their logos on the window.
See also
In Spanish: Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie para niños
