Charlotte Rulkens

Charlotte Rulkens
Born1991 (age 34–35)
Netherlands
EducationLeiden University, University of Amsterdam, Vrije Universiteit (PhD)
OccupationsArt historian, Curator, Researcher

Charlotte Rulkens (born 1991) is a Dutch art historian, researcher, curator, and technical art historian. She specializes in seventeenth-century Dutch art, particularly Rembrandt, painting techniques, and attribution research. Her research also includes sixteenth-century Flemish still life painting.

Career

Education

Rulkens studied art history at the University of Amsterdam, where she received her BA in Art History and MA in Curating Arts and Cultures, and later obtained her PhD at the Vrije Universiteit, in 2026.

Curatorial work

Rulkens held early curatorial and research positions at the Rijksmuseum, The Frick Collection in New York, and the Mauritshuis in The Hague.

At the Mauritshuis, Rulkens contributed to exhibitions including Slow Food: Still Lifes of the Golden Age, and National Trust: Dutch Masters from British Country Houses, and curated Rembrandt and the Mauritshuis, organized for the Rembrandt Year in 2019. Her work at the museum included research on Rembrandt, the history of the Mauritshuis collection, and the changing reception of Rembrandt within the institution. During her time at the Mauritshuis she also played a key role in the renewal of the Prince William V Gallery, and has been involved in initiatives to engage young professionals in museum governance and decision-making processes in the Netherlands.

Academic work

Rulkens is a research associate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where her work formed part of the project Replicating a Rembrandt Study. The project examined the possibilities and limits of replication in art history, using attribution research on portraits associated with the young Rembrandt as a case study.

In 2026, she defended her doctoral dissertation, Rembrandt and Rubens Revisited: Towards more Transparent and Replicable Attributions, at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her dissertation proposed the Attribution Expert Consensus Meeting as a method for making attribution research in art history more transparent, collaborative, and replicable.

Board membership

Since 2023, Rulkens has served on the supervisory board of the Rembrandt House Museum.

Publications

References

  1. ↑ "Rembrandt, Rubens en het belang van replicatie". NPO Radio 1 (in Dutch). AVROTROS. 16 May 2026. Retrieved 15 July 2026.
  2. ↑ "Aftrap Rembrandtjaar: Beatrix opent expositie in Mauritshuis". De Gelderlander. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  3. ↑ "Technisch bewijs over de maker van een schilderij is bijna nooit een smoking gun". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 15 May 2026.
  4. ↑ Rulkens, C.C.S.; Peels, R.; Stols-Witlox, M. (2025). "The attribution of two portraits of Rembrandt revisited: a replication study in art history". Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. 12 1347. doi:10.1057/s41599-025-05523-2. hdl:1871.1/7e8e0fe1-8d78-4b93-9411-e5c70a8b6a51.
  5. ↑ "Charlotte Rulkens". CODART. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  6. ↑ "Schilderij na jaren studie alsnog toegedicht aan Rembrandt". Het Parool. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  7. ↑ "Charlotte Rulkens". VU Research Portal. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  8. 1 2 Carla van de Puttelaar (27 July 2021). "Female Voices in Art: Charlotte Rulkens, Assistant Curator at the Mauritshuis, The Hague". Women in the Art World.
  9. ↑ Roelofs, Pieter (2019). "Slow Food: Dutch and Flemish Meal Still Lifes 1600–1640, by Quentin Buvelot". The Burlington Magazine. 161 (1391): 176. JSTOR 26849303.
  10. ↑ "Charlotte Rulkens". VU Research Portal. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  11. ↑ "Charlotte Rulkens, "Rembrandt en het Mauritshuis" en Gerdien Verschoor, "Het meisje en de geleerde"". Stretto. 18 February 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  12. ↑ "Charlotte Rulkens". VU Research Portal. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  13. ↑ "Charlotte Rulkens". CODART. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "Original works by Rembrandt and Rubens - or not?". Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 13 April 2026. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Rembrandt and Rubens Revisited in PhD Research by Charlotte Rulkens". CODART. 2 June 2026. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  16. ↑ "Organisation". Rembrandt House Museum. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  17. ↑ Zuidervaart, Huib J.; Rulkens, Charlotte C.S. (2014). "De Amsterdamse mathematicus Jan van den Dam (1706-1770) en zijn vernuftige planetaria". Jaarboek van het Genootschap Amstelodamum. 106: 120–163.
  18. ↑ Buvelot, Quentin; Shawe-Taylor, Desmond; Rulkens, Charlotte (2015). Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer. Mauritshuis, The Hague; Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London; Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. London: Royal Collection Trust. ISBN 978-1-909741-19-5. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  19. ↑ Slow Food. Dutch and Flemish Meal Still Lifes, 1600-1640. Mauritshuis, The Hague. Zwolle: Waanders. 2017. ISBN 978-94-6262-117-6. Retrieved 28 August 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  20. ↑ Rulkens, Charlotte (2019). Rembrandt en het Mauritshuis. Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen Mauritshuis. ISBN 9789462622135. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  21. ↑ Rulkens, Charlotte C. S.; Peels, Rik; Mokkink, Lidwine B.; Haven, Tamarinde; Bouter, Lex (2024). "Expert Consensus Methods In The Humanities: An Exploration of their Potential". F1000Research. 13: 1–40. doi:10.12688/f1000research.148726.2. PMC 11754948. PMID 39850613.
  22. ↑ Derksen, Maarten; Meirmans, Stephanie; Brenninkmeijer, Jonna; et al. (2025). "Replication studies in the Netherlands: Lessons learned and recommendations for funders, publishers and editors, and universities". Accountability in Research. 32 (7): 1285–1303. doi:10.1080/08989621.2024.2383349. hdl:2066/309619. PMID 39135508.