Dr. Michael Kwakkelstein

Biography

Michael W. Kwakkelstein is a Professor in Art History at Utrecht University, specializing in visual arts art theory and Renaissance Italy. He received his doctoral degree from the University of Leiden with a thesis titled "Leonardo da Vinci: Physiognomist. Theory, Drawing, Practice" in 1994. His research focuses on the relationship between art theory and artistic practice, particularly emphasizing Leonardo da Vinci. His findings have been published in prestigious journals such as the Journal of Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Print Quarterly, Apollo, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, and Artibus et Historiae. Kwakkelstein published an annotated edition of the Dutch treatise on art drawing by Willem Goeree in 1998. He has been affiliated with the Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence, where he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He taught courses in art history at the International Studies Institute in Florence and held the position of Chief Curator at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem. In 2006, he returned to Florence as the director of the Dutch University Institute for Art History and has curated numerous exhibitions, including the successful Michelangelo drawings exhibition in collaboration with the British Museum.

Research Interests

Experience