Baroque Painting, Architectural Drawings and a New Building for the Institute (2001–2013)

Sybille Ebert-Schifferer succeeded Matthias Winner in 2001. Her research focused on painting and the visual arts of the early modern period, such as Bolognese and Roman painting – in particular Caravaggio. Elisabeth Kieven had shortly before been appointed as a specialist in Roman architectural drawings of the 17th and 18th centuries to succeed Christoph Luitpold Frommel. Prior to this, in 1994, the decision had been taken to build a new library tract to replace the old library wing from the 1960s, which was structurally inadequate and no longer complied with fire safety legislation. To make way for the upcoming construction work, the library was closed in 2001 and 70,000 volumes were evacuated to the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM).

Since the creation of the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known in the Renaissance, the first database on the reception of ancient painting, sculpture and architecture in the early modern period, the design and development of comprehensive research databases has been a research priority of both departments. The Lineamenta database set up by Elisabeth Kieven brings Roman and Italian architectural drawings dispersed throughout the world together in a virtual environment. The ArsRoma database, initiated by Sybille Ebert-Schifferer, compiles information on the production of art in Rome between 1580 and 1630. Both databases work with the ZUCCARO software designed by the institute specifically for the research requirements of the Humanities.