There are about 1350 pictures in Special Collection, made with various techniques. They mainly depict Antwerp between the 15th and the 21st century. Recently, a sizable digitization project has made sure all our pictures are now openly accessible online.
History
Father Ferdinand Peeters, who was part of the Antwerp Jesuit society, compiled a varied collection of pictures related to the city of Antwerp. Initially these pictures were intended for decoration in the halls of the former trade school (situated in the Korte Nieuwstraat, and then since 1932 in the Prinsstraat). About eighty of these pictures are still permanently on display in the University buildings, and the majority is managed by and kept in the depository of the Special Collections, the part of the University Library that cares for the valuable and vulnerable materials.
Disclosing the gallery of pictures
In 2012, the library started a project to describe, disclose and digitize the picture collection in order to place a spotlight onto this unique collection and to make them available for researchers. The Department for Library Automation (Anet), together with project assistant dr. Karen Bowen, developed a software module that allows for the registration of the basic data (maker, date, description,…) of each picture. At the same time, the Special Collections had the majority of these pictures digitized and provided them with a unique call number and a permanent and controlled storage space in acid-free folders.
In January of 2015, the project was finished and the module was published for the wider public. Users now have access to the full catalogue of the gallery of pictures, which consists of roughly 1350 objects from 700 artists, publishers and printers. The bulk of the collection are engravings, woodcuts and lithographs, but there are also some drawings, paintings and photo’s. About 85% of this collection has been fully digitized, because some pieces were too fragile to be digitized and some doubles were not digitized a second time. The oldest object in this collection is a woodcut dating back to 1493, and the youngest object is a planographic print made by Luc Tuymans in 2010.
Antwerp in the picture
The gallery of pictures beautifully illustrates the history of Antwerp. When enter ‘Antwerp’ into the search bar of the module, you get over 1000 hits, which can be refined and filtered with other criteria. You will encounter mostly maps, streets and buildings like the Saint-Carolus Borromeus church and the Saint-Jacob’s church, the Grote Markt and the town hall, the Cathedral of Our Lady and the Antwerp harbour. Additionally pictures from the second half of the 16th century and the Napoleonic era are well-represented.
The detailed descriptions of the gallery of pictures and the near total digitalization of the collection is integral to the academic operation and heritage work of the University Library. We do not only aim to serve the academic interests of our historians and academic personnel, but also the wider public. Aren’t you curious to see what the Meir looked like in the early 18th century? Would you like to see the Antwerp stock exchange building before the 1858 fire? Would you like to know about the German zeppelins that soared over Antwerp in 1914? Or are you more interested in the world fair in 1930? Make sure you take a look here!