Across the European continent, the art and science of textile dyeing has long left its mark—not only in the richly colored cloths that once circulated through markets, courts, and workshops, but in the manuscripts, recipe books, and trade records that attempted to capture and codify its processes. These sources, whether written by master dyers, craftsmen, or publishers, offer invaluable insights into material knowledge and cultural practice. Yet despite the depth of this collective heritage, research in the field has often unfolded in parallel rather than in dialogue—scattered across regions, languages, and disciplinary boundaries.

 
This expert meeting proposes to shift this paradigm by bringing together scholars and practitioners who have engaged deeply with both the study and the practical reconstruction of dyeing techniques across Europe. We aim to create a space where participants can compare sources, share findings, and reflect critically. Our work is grounded in a dual approach, academic inquiry combined with material experimentation, which allows us to treat historical texts not only as static records but as dynamic, practice-based instructions shaped by craft, context, and embodied knowledge. While our individual research projects are rooted in specific geographic and cultural contexts, just as the dyers of the past were, recurring themes and overlapping practices emerge. These connections reflect the historical movement of people, goods, and knowledge across regions and borders. The meeting will be divided in two parts, in the first one, each participant will present their most recent research, offering insight into their methods, questions, and discoveries. Through these presentations, we look for common grounds and themes on which to confront and exchange expertise, which will lead to and be applied on the second day.

 
The second part of the meeting will turn from discourse to doing. In a collective workshop, focusing mostly on red hues, we will reconstruct selected dye recipes drawn from our research, testing not only their technical feasibility but the interpretive challenges they pose. What does it mean, in practice, to “boil until the color is right” when referring to a specific color as “flesh color” or “fire red”? How do we navigate terms whose meaning has shifted or vanished? How similar were the tin liquor preparations between different locations and time frames? Through the combination of theoretical and practical approaches, this meeting aims to open paths for further collaborative research on dye practices, with the broader goal of initiating an international project on natural dyes, the circulation of knowledge, and color terminology in Europe

Participants: Natalia Ortega, Dominique Cardon, Jo Kirby, Ana Serrano, Eva Eis, Paula Nabais, Mara Espirito Santo, Emile Lupatini.
Duration: 3 days
Date: 12th, 13th and 14th of November 2025

Day 1 – Wednesday 12th November
Venue: Snijders&Rockoxhuis - Open to invited public

09:00 – 09:30 | Registration
Part 1: Opening & Introduction
09:30 – 09:45 | Welcome & Opening | N. Ortega M.Bassens
Part 2: Presentations (Morning Session)
09:45 – 10:05 | D. Cardon, S. Rozier - Antoine Janot's and Paul Gout's "Memoirs on dyeing": from the critical editions of the manuscripts to our successive and successful reproductions of their recipes
10:05 – 10:20 | P. Nabais – Study and interpretation of historical natural dye formulations for modern textile design
10:20 – 10:30 | Questions
10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:15 | M. Espirito Santo – The Heart of the Scarlet Reds: Insight into 18th-Century European Recipes to Reproduce Tin Liquor
11:15 – 11:30 | E. Lupatini – The Antwerp manuscript’s unraveling. From historical context and embedded knowledge, to the practical reconstruction of its colors
11:30 – 11:45 | S. Rozier – Natural dyeing from historical recipes to a larger scale: French opera and cinema costume productions
11:45 – 12:00 | Questions
12:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break and free visit to the museum
Part 3: Presentations (Afternoon Session)
14:00 – 14:15 | J. Kirby – London and the trade in dyeing materials during the eighteenth century
14:15 – 14:30 | A. Serrano – Investigating purple dyeing in 19th-century European fashion
14:30 – 14:45 | Questions
14:45 – 15:00 | Coffee Break
15:00 – 15:15 | E. Eis – In search for the right (tin) solution in a dyer’s 19th-century recipes
15:15 – 15:30 | J. Boulboulle – Unravelling Leidse Laken's Black Secrets: Investigating black dye recipes from the Haarlem Manuscript and 18th-century sources
15:30 – 15:45 | Questions and closing remarks
Free visit to the museum

Day 2 – Thursday 13th November
Venue: University of Antwerp, Blindestraat 9, 2000 Antwerpn

Part 1: Workshop (Morning)
09:00 – 12:30 | Reconstructions of recipes
12:30 – 14:00 | Lunch Break
Part 2: Workshop (Afternoon)
14:00 – 17:00 | Reconstructions and Discussion
Evening: Dinner at Restaurant Samenloop, Lange Gasthuisstraat 33, 2000 Antwerpen

Day 3 – Friday 14th November
Venue: University of Antwerp, Blindestraat 9, 2000 Antwerpen

Part 1: Workshop/Discussion

09:00 – 12:30 | Reconstructions and Discussion
12:30 – 14:00 | Lunch Break
Venue: MOMU – Nationalestraat 28, 2000 Antwerpen
Part 2: Visits
14:00 – 15:30 | Visit to MoMu - Archief Melijn
Guided by Wim Mertens
Part 3: Closing of the expert meeting and drinks
15:30 – 17:00 |Discussing possible collective research projects