Editor's note
The Marks on Art project originated from a long-standing desire to bring together information on marks found on works of art and make it available for comparative research. Discussions about documenting marks on paintings on panel and copper began at the RKD in 1998, when Jørgen Wadum and the RKD first explored the possibility of systematically recording such material. Independently, a similar initiative emerged within the field of medieval sculpture. These ideas eventually converged in the Marks on Art project, which has since expanded to encompass watermarks on Dutch drawings in addition to marks on medieval sculpture and early modern paintings.
The project is founded on a simple observation: marks are an important but often overlooked source of information. Applied by panel makers, coppersmiths, guilds, collectors, and other actors, they can provide valuable evidence for the origin, production, dating, attribution, authenticity, and provenance of works of art. Because these marks are frequently located on the reverse, edges, or otherwise inaccessible parts of an object, they often remain unnoticed. Bringing together examples from many collections therefore creates research opportunities that would be difficult to achieve through the study of individual objects alone.
This volume serves both as a companion to the Marks on Art database and as a reference work in its own right. Whereas the database provides access to individual marks, the objects bearing them, and the actors associated with them, this publication offers the broader historical, technical, and methodological framework necessary for their interpretation. The chapters assembled here present current research on marks found on Dutch and Flemish paintings on panel and copper, explore the craftsmen and institutions responsible for their application, and assess the evidence underpinning current identifications and hypotheses. Together with the RKD databases, the volume contributes to an integrated research environment in which objects, makers, marks, and historical documentation can be studied in relation to one another.
Neither the database nor this publication should be regarded as a final statement on the subject. Many marks remain unidentified, new examples continue to be discovered, and archival and technical research regularly provide new insights. Both resources are therefore intended as foundations for future research. It is our hope that they will encourage new collaborations, stimulate further discoveries, and contribute to a deeper understanding of the material history of paintings in the Low Countries and beyond.
Angela Jager
Editor, Marks on Art: Paintings
RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History
The Hague, June 2026