You can find the online catalogue using this link.
There are two search options to access the collections: you can choose between 'Search in the library and documentation on works of art' and 'Search the archives'.
Search in the library and documentation on works of art
The library and documentation on works of art of the Rubenianum can be found in the common catalogue of the library network Anet. By inputting a search term, you can also search the collections of 25 other libraries, including the Antwerp university library, the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library, and the museum libraries of the Museum Plantin-Moretus/Prentenkabinet and the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen.
Publications (books and articles)
In addition to an up-to-date listing of available art books, museum and exhibition catalogues on European art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, chapters from these publications as well as recent articles published in journals are also systematically added to the database, producing a highly incisive search instrument.
Documentation on works of art
The thousands of documentation files on European fine art of the 16th and 17th centuries can be searched by the artist's name.
Subjects
Search options including detailed subjects mean that you can also search the complete catalogue by:
- Artists and collectors
- Keywords from the Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Iconographical themes, personifications, scenes and figures
- Buildings, museums and other institutions
- Geographical areas and locations
- Historical events and periods
- Auctions and exhibitions
Consulting resources
Once you are a registered reader you can submit online requests to consult the material you need. It will then be set aside and will be waiting for you when you arrive at the reading room at the appointed time. You can register as a reader online by filling in this form or on the premises at the reception desk. The A-card is our reader pass.
Unicat and Worldcat
You can also search the Rubenianum’s collections through Unicat – the Union Catalogue of Belgian Libraries, which operates in conjunction with Belgium’s university libraries. Another possibility is by using Worldcat, the world’s largest library catalogue, which provides access to collection catalogues of libraries worldwide. The Rubenianum is also part of the Art Discovery Group Catalog, the international research gate to art literature.
Searching the archives
The Rubenianum provides access to its special collections in a separate archive module in Anet. By using the search environment ‘search archives’ you can conduct a ‘full text’ search at all levels of the archival descriptions. The documentation on Peter Paul Rubens’s works of art is classified separately within this search environment and can be searched at the level of specific themes and files of specific artworks.
Related
The academic art library of the Rubenianum consists of publications in the field of the fine arts in early modern Europe.
The most extensive documentation on early modern Flemish art and artists in the world.