An international symposium on the work of Netherlandish artist Johannes Stradanus, also known as Jan van der Straet (1523–1605)
Location change
Due to the government shutdown, Cooper Hewitt is currently closed to the public. For this reason, the Stradanus at Cooper Hewitt symposium will now take place at the Bard Graduate Center Lecture Hall, 38 West 86th Street between Central Park West and Columbus Avenue. The schedule of presentations remains unchanged.
The afternoon viewing sessions will now take place at the Morgan Library. All viewing sessions are now sold out. The full address and instructions for the viewing sessions will be emailed to all registered guests. If you have any questions, please email us at cheducation@si.edu
The Stradanus at Cooper Hewitt symposium convenes curators, scholars, and conservators from across North America and Europe to present their research on the drawings of Netherlandish artist Johannes Stradanus, also known as Jan van der Straet (1523–1605). There will be a special opportunity to view the Stradanus drawings in the Drue Heinz Study Center for Drawings and Prints at the conclusion of each day’s presentations. View the complete symposium schedule.
Registration
You may register for one or both days of the symposium; if you are attending both Thursday and Friday, you will need to complete separate registrations for each day. You are invited to select one session for your study center visit; you may register for the visit on either Thursday or Friday, even if you are not attending the symposium for both days. Please follow the prompts throughout the registration process to reserve the study center visit of your choosing.
Note: There will be two 40-minute study sessions per day; you will be assigned your session upon check in.
Due to limited capacity, seating is first come, first served.
Should you require any assistance with registration, please call (+1) 212.849.8351.
Please note, there will be no exhibitions on view during the symposium, as the galleries are closed for installation through November 20.
About the Stradanus Project
Cooper Hewitt is home to 143 sheets of drawings and inscriptions by the Netherlandish artist Johannes Stradanus (Jan van der Straet, 1523–1605). With support from the Getty’s Paper Project Initiative and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Collections Program, Cooper Hewitt embarked on The Stradanus Project, an effort to conserve, research, and digitize Stradanus’s drawings, which served as preparatory designs for his engravings. At some point in their history, the drawings were bound together to form several sketchbooks that were later disassembled. The leaves were separated and cut apart, and the sheets were laid down on secondary and tertiary supports—perhaps as part of an album that was then again cut apart. From 2021 to 2022, Cooper Hewitt conducted a conservation survey of all of its Stradanus sketches. Based on this information, the team selected 38 sheets for lining removal and treatment, which was completed in 2024. As a result of conservation work and research, drawings and inscriptions that have been obscured for more than a century have been newly revealed. Learn more about the Stradanus Project.
The Stradanus Project is made possible with support from Getty through The Paper Project initiative; and received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program. Additional support for the Stradanus at Cooper Hewitt symposium has been provided by the Tavolozza Foundation.
