Annemarie Stefes appointed as Jacoba Lugt-Klever Fellow

Annemarie Stefes

Dr. Annemarie Stefes (University of Bern, Switzerland) is an expert on Dutch drawings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She studied in Freiburg im Breisgau and Vienna, was a curator-in-training at the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, and worked as a research assistant at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, where she published the comprehensive collection catalogue Niederländische Zeichnungen 1450-1850. Kupferstichkabinett der Hamburger Kunsthalle.

Since 2011, Annemarie has worked as an independent art historian and has collaborated with various museums, including the Rijksprentenkabinet in Amsterdam, the ALBERTINA Museum in Vienna, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She recently curated the exhibition Expedition Zeichnung. Niederländische Meister unter der Lupe at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne together with Anne Buschhoff and Thomas Klinke, and her collection catalogue of the museum’s Dutch drawings will be published online in 2026. Annemarie’s dissertation on the drawings of Nicolaes Berchem was awarded the Wolfgang Ratjen Prize by the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte in Munich in 2001.

Nicolaes Berchem

The body of work by the Dutch artist Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem (Haarlem 1621/22-1683 Amsterdam) consists of more than 350 drawings covering a wide range of subjects and executed in various drawing techniques. Berchem’s drawings are of high quality and had a major influence on his numerous students and followers. His drawings were also widely copied. Berchem is considered one of the most important Dutch Italianates, although a journey to Italy has not been documented to date.

Catalogue raisonné

Despite Nicolaes Berchem’s importance as a draftsman, surprisingly there is only one catalogue raisonné of his work: Annemarie Stefes’s 1997 dissertation, which was not published as a monograph. The goal of the Jacoba Lugt-Klever Fellowship is to change that. As a fellow, Annemarie Stefes will focus on compiling an updated publication that will also include the numerous drawings discovered since 1997.

In several introductory chapters, attention will be given to aspects of Berchem’s artistic practice that have emerged from recent research, such as the role of copies, replicas, counterprints, sketchbooks, and prints in his work.

New discoveries and insights

At the same time, an active search is underway for previously unknown or newly attributed drawings, and the possibility that Berchem may have produced drawings in Italy will be re-examined. With their rich (digital) collections, the RKD and the Fondation Custodia provide an excellent foundation for the research, while art collections that have not yet been studied will also be visited. All of this will not only result in a complete catalog of Berchem’s drawn oeuvre but will also provide new insights into the practice of drawing in seventeenth-century Netherlands.

Jacoba Lugt-Klever Fellowship

The Jacoba Lugt-Klever Fellowship was established in memory of Jacoba Lugt-Klever (1888–1969), the wife of collector and connoisseur Frits Lugt and co-founder of the Fondation Custodia. It offers an advanced researcher in the field of printmaking and/or drawing the opportunity to work on their own research. The fellowship is a collaboration between the Fondation Custodia and the RKD, has a duration of one year, and is based in The Hague. Annemarie Stefes will begin her work on May 1, 2026.