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NWO Museum grant for research project 'Nature and Us' on landscape painting


5 October 2023


Researcher Marieke Van Den Doel has been awarded an NWO Museum grant for her project De Natuur & Wij (Nature & Us), in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar. The project examines early modern views on the relationship between nature and man, using early modern landscape paintings from the museum's collection.


Will Alkmaar soon be under water? Can this be prevented by thinking differently about nature? The project examines early modern views on the relationship between nature and man. Works of art show how these ideas were represented over time. Using landscape paintings in the collection of Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar, it examines whether the paintings show a human-centred perspective or an ecocentric one.


Early modern depictions of nature are analysed through contemporary sources on the subject, as well as through contemporary ecohumanist philosophers. Does this self-examination provide handles or inspiration for a revised relationship between humans and nature?


The NWO Museum Grants research programme is for projects that carry out scientific, innovative and relevant research for society and the museum sector.


Marieke van den Doel is Assistant Professor in History of Humanism. She previously wrote the book Ficino and Fantasy, among others.

Marieke Van Den Doel has been awarded an NWO Museum grant for her project De Natuur & Wij (Nature & Us), in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar.