A Masterly Hand / Scientia Artis 9

7 6 Foreword The two-year research project entitled The works of the late-medieval sculptor the ‘ Master of Elsloo’ in Belgian ownership: art-historical and technical research in an international perspective , subsidized by the Belgian Science Policy, began in January 2010 as the joint initiative of Peter te Poel, then curator of sculpture and applied arts before 1850 at the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, and myself. The aim of the project was to determine, if possible, the Master of Elsloo’s identity or at least to study this craftsman – or craftsmen – more closely through the masterfully carved sculptures that survive in Belgian ­ Limburg and the area on the border of the Netherlands and Germany. The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage pulled out all the stops to ensure the optimum completion of this project within the limited time of two years. An interdisciplinary team of young researchers was formed whose core ­ consisted of an art historian, a conservator-restorer and a photographer. They were supported by a body of experienced colleagues from the kik-irpa and could draw on the wealth of information on this and related subjects ­ contained in the Institute’s various departments. Together with a number of international colleagues they developed a method that was painstakingly applied to some hundred sculptures in Belgium and beyond. The project led to the organization of an international conference entitled A Masterly Hand. Interdisciplinary Research on the Late-Medieval Sculptor ­ Master of Elsloo in an International Perspective , which took place in Brussels on 20-21 October 2011 and was the twelfth in the series of art-historical seminars held under the kik-irpa ’s aegis. It not only highlighted the research results of the Institute’s own staff but also those of fellow researchers from Belgium and other countries. The Scientia Artis series offers the unique opportunity to publish the results of this kind of in-depth research, either in the form of a monograph or, as in the pages that follow, as conference proceedings. Our scholarly and scientific knowledge is enriched not only by the various articles but also by the outstand- ing illustrations that provide a substantial contribution to an often surprising new view of the subject. Besides the papers presented at the conference, this ninth volume in the Scientia Artis series includes an additional study by Gerard Venner, while two speakers, Christine Vanthillo and Ian Tyers, decided not to submit their texts for publication. The articles are in the authors’ language of choice – English, Dutch, French or German – and an English summary is appended to the non- English texts. However, this publication is more than the mere reproduction of the conference papers. For nearly two years Famke Peters of the kik-irpa has worked with sterling dedication and in close consultation with the authors to compile and consolidate the diverse texts; she has also added a highly efficient apparatus that facilitates references between the articles and to the illustrations. This has created a real coherence among the various articles, which in turn makes the subject more accessible to the reader. She has also