The present director of the RKD has a curious way of showing his appreciation for the permission to use the ICONCLASS browser we developed and have maintained in the past 15 years, for our gesture to add the RKD's name to the browser's site and for the efforts we have put in the promotion, support and financing of the system.
Apparently he does not share the sense of urgency with which we want to address the revision of outdated and sometimes offensive terminology found in the Iconclass schedules. This issue should be addressed without delay. Hence our call for a meeting in April.
Any alignment of Iconclass with the Getty Iconography Authority should be based on a thorough scientific analysis of the two systems by a representative group of scholars from institutes using Iconclass and - if possible - GIA. It should not be discussed, let alone decided in a few zoom-sessions.
We can imagine that users of Iconclass are surprised by the statement that the RKD "governed, guided and financed" Iconclass - quod non - and also quite concerned about the announcement of a "smooth transfer of Iconclass to The Getty". To express your concern, do use the email addresses supplied in the letter.
Rest assured that this Iconclass browser will continue to be at your service as it has been for the past 15 years. Its data will remain under the Open Database License; the browser's software will remain open source.
JPJ Brandhorst & E Posthumus
9 March 2021
If you want to participate in the further development of a new browser and the update of the system's content, do let us know via info@iconclass.org
for more information on using this site as an API, and how to retrieve texts for Iconclass codes, see /help/lod