On 23 August, the Faculty of Arts received the sad news that Prof. Volker Manuth, emeritus professor of Art History of the (Early) Modern Period at Radboud University, had passed away. With his passing, the faculty has lost an internationally renowned art historian, an enthusiastic lecturer and a leading expert on seventeenth-century Dutch painting.
Volker Manuth was born in 1956 in Schönkirchen, Germany. He studied art history, philosophy and classical archaeology in Kiel, Bonn and Berlin. In 1987, he was awarded a PhD from the Freie Universität Berlin for a thesis on the iconography of Rembrandt's Old Testament depictions. Following his work at the Freie Universität Berlin and as Alfred Bader professor of Northern Baroque art at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada, he moved to Nijmegen in 2003, where he became professor of Art History of the (Early) Modern Period.
From Nijmegen, Manuth continued to build on his impressive internation reputation. His interests were broad, but the paintings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries from the Low Countries occupied a central place within them. He published on Rembrandt and the Rembrandt school, Albrecht Dürer and his contemporaries, Christian iconography, portraiture, the history of collecting, and the reception of Dutch art from the Golden Age. In doing so, he always managed to connect the artwork to the historical, religious and societal context in which it was created.
His name became particularly associated with Rembrandt. Manuth was recognised internationally as one of the leading specialists in the field of the work of Rembrandt and his pupils. His knowledge made him a much sought-after advisor for museums and researchers. In 2005, he was appointed as the Rijksmuseum's first ever honorary curator of seventeenth-century painting. He was also involved in compiling the inventory catalogue of seventeenth-century painting and the preparations for the Rembrandt Year 2006.
Manuth was known for his extensive network at home and abroad, as well as his excellent contacts with museums. Among other things, he was a member of the Advisory Council for the Rembrandt Society, a board member of the Nijmegen Art History Studies Foundation, member of the editorial board of the Rijksmuseum Bulletin, member of the Supervisory Board for Museum Het Valkhof and the Frans Hals Museum. His connection with such museums formed an important addition to his academic work and contributed to a fruitful interaction between science and practice.
A key example of his scholarly significance was the Rembrandt Documents Project (RemDoc), which was launched at Radboud University in 2011. Under Manuth's leadership and in collaboration with, among others, Museum Het Rembrandthuis, written documents related to Rembrandt and his circle were systematically collected and made accessible in digital form. In doing so, he contributed to new insights into Rembrandt and to the development of digital forms of art-historical research. He also succeeded in making his knowledge accessible to a larger audience beyond the academic world. In 2019, he published the comprehensive Rembrandt. The Complete Paintings, together with Marieke de Winkel.
Manuth's scholarly interests were by no means limited to Rembrandt. This was also evident from his farewell lecture, which he delivered in 2023 under the title Rembrandt and Dürer. To mark his retirement, he was presented with a liber amicorum, Not Always Rembrandt: 37 Studies in Baroque Art. The collection, with contributions from colleagues both at home and abroad, reflects the breadth of his research, from Rembrandt's pupils and portrait identification to graphic art, religious painting, provenance research and the artistic relations between the Netherlands and Germany.
As a professor, Manuth also mentored generations of students and young researchers. His influence thus extended beyond his own publications. Researchers who obtained their doctorates under his supervision are now themselves working in academia or the museum sector. His education combined a thorough knowledge of artworks and sources with attention paid to the historical and religious context in which art was created.
Even after his retirement, Manuth remained active as a researcher and a key interlocutor for museums and fellow academics. He remained involved in research into Rembrandt and his contemporaries, as well as in new exhibitions and publications, such as the highly acclaimed exhibition Masterful Mystery on the Master I.S. at the Lakenhal in Leiden (2025/26). His specialist knowledge and international contacts ensured that, even in these later years, he remained a valued interlocutor within the world of art history.
With the passing of Volker Manuth, art history has lost a scholar who, with great expertise and tenacity, contributed to our understanding of early modern painting. For Radboud University, his passing marks the loss of a professor who, for twenty years, was a leading figure in Nijmegen for art history. His research, his publications and, above all, the many researchers and students he inspired will ensure that his academic legacy remains a lasting legacy.
Volker is survived by his partner, Prof. Marieke de Winkel (Professor by special appointment at our faculty), and two children.
The Faculty of Arts at Radboud University remembers Volker Manuth with great appreciation and gratitude.