The Rubens Garden

Klara Alen is research curator of the historical garden of the Rubenshuis in Antwerp and researcher for Rubens' country estate 'Het Steen' in Elewijt. She studied art history at the University of Leuven and art market studies at the VU Amsterdam. Klara obtained her PhD in art history in the spring of 2017 as a researcher of Project Cornelia (www.projectcornelia.be). Her doctoral dissertation takes an inclusive look at the Antwerp tapestry industry (1660-1720) through art historical research, archival research, data visualization and data analysis. The project was supervised by Koen Brosens and co-supervised by Katlijne Van der Stighelen, Neil de Marchi, Hans J. Van Miegroet and Paul McLean. Klara has published papers and given lectures on the early development of still life painting in the Northern and Southern Netherlands, 17th century Antwerp horticulture, Rubens' garden, women artists and the social and entrepreneurial strategies of early modern artists and art dealers. Together with Sam Segal, Klara is the author of Dutch and Flemish Flower Pieces. Paintings, Drawings and Prints up to the Nineteenth Century (Brill, 2020).