Nils Büttner

Nils Büttner (born 9 February 1967 in Bremen) is a German art historian and curator, known for his research on Peter Paul Rubens and Early Modern European art. Büttner is Professor of History at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart and serves as chairman of the Centrum Rubenianum in Antwerp,^[1] where he is the main editor the Corpus Rubenianum, the definitive catalogue raisonné of Rubens’s work. Büttner has also written widely on artists such as Hieronymus Bosch, Johannes Vermeer, and Rembrandt, and is active in contemporary debates on art attribution and the use of artificial intelligence in authentication. His work combines historical research with public engagement through major exhibitions, including the internationally recognized Rubens in Genoa (2022–2023).

Büttner studied art history, folklore, and classical archaeology. He received his doctorate from the University of Göttingen with the dissertation Die Erfindung der Landschaft: Kosmographie und Landschaftskunst im Zeitalter Bruegels ("The Invention of Landscape: Cosmography and Landscape Art in the Age of Bruegel").

From 1998 to 1999, he worked as a research assistant at the University of Göttingen, cataloguing the collection’s drawings. He later held positions at the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig—first as a curatorial trainee (1999), then as an exhibition curator (2000–2001). Between 2001 and 2008, he was a research associate at the Technical University of Dortmund. In 2004/05, he completed his habilitation at Dortmund with the study Herr P. P. Rubens. Von der Kunst, berühmt zu werden ("Mr. P. P. Rubens: On the Art of Becoming Famous").

Büttner has since held the Chair for Medieval and Modern Art History at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart. His academic work focuses on the visual culture of the Early Modern period in Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the history of printmaking and book illustration. He is also the chair (since 2021) of the Centrum Rubenianum in Antwerp and general editor of the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, the catalogue raisonné of the works of Peter Paul Rubens.

Büttner’s Hieronymus Bosch: Visions and Nightmares was praised for its reliance on historical documentation and its effort to separate fact from myth. However, a 2016 review in The Telegraph, by Tim Smith-Laing, criticized the book's English translation and its academic prose style, and noted that new research had already cast doubt on the attribution of several works discussed in the volume.^[2] Despite these critiques, the book was recognized as part of a broader scholarly and public reevaluation of Bosch during the quincentenary of the artist's death.

In 2023, Büttner published a widely discussed book on the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer, Vermeer: De schilder die de tijd stilzet ("Vermeer: The Painter Who Stops Time").^[3] The book was praised for its clarity and accessibility, offering readers a contextual understanding of Vermeer's life, technique, and iconography. Büttner emphasizes the symbolic and moral content in Vermeer’s work and critiques speculative interpretations about the figures depicted. He also addresses the enduring role of viewer imagination in interpreting art, highlighting how perception can be shaped by attribution—as shown in his discussion of The Supper at Emmaus, a famous forgery once believed to be by Vermeer.

In 2022–2023, Büttner co-curated the exhibition Rubens in Genoa (at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa) during which his co-curator, art historian Anna Orlando, referred to him as “the highest authority on Rubens in the world.”^[4][5] The exhibition commemorated the 400th anniversary of Rubens’s publication Palazzi di Genova and explored the artist’s deep connections to the city’s aristocracy and architecture.^[6] The exhibition featured several new discoveries, including a version of The Resurrected Christ Appears to His Mother, attributed to Rubens and his workshop, and an unpublished sketch for The Miracles of St. Ignatius.^[7][8]

In 2023, Büttner co-authored a scholarly article with Jesuit priest Stephan Ch. Kessler on Rubens’s late painting Crucifixion of Saint Peter (1638–1640), located in the parish church of Sankt Peter in Cologne.^[9] The article presents new interpretations of the painting’s expressive and theological dimensions, drawing on insights from recent conservation work and positioning it as one of Rubens’s most personal religious compositions.

Büttner has been actively involved in advancing the use of artificial intelligence in art authentication. In 2024, he co-authored a study with Swiss tech firm Art Recognition applying A.I. tools to verify a painting attributed to Anthony van Dyck, describing the project as "proof that [A.I.] works."^[10] Despite this endorsement, Büttner has criticized specific A.I.-based attributions, including the claim that a version of The Bath of Diana in a French private collection was partially painted by Rubens. He challenged this finding based on a 2016 condition report by Gregory Martin and his own firsthand examination in 2023, arguing that the work lacked the technical and stylistic hallmarks of Rubens's oeuvre.^[10] As chairman of the Centrum Rubenianum, he also questioned the authenticity of a related fragment housed in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, noting that although once considered a studio work, it does not appear to derive from Rubens’s lost original and may instead reflect broader workshop production.^[11] Büttner has stated that while A.I. may offer useful supplementary insights, it must be supported by expert connoisseurship and material analysis.

Besides his work on Rubens and Early Modern Flemish painting, Büttner has also written on the life and art of Hieronymus Bosch. His 2016 book, Hieronymus Bosch: Visions and Nightmares, published during the quincentenary of Bosch's death, was released in conjunction with a wave of public interest in the artist, including the international documentary Touched by the Devil.^[12] In the book, Büttner emphasizes rigorous historical evidence and the techniques employed by the Bosch Research and Conservation Project (BRCP), distancing himself from speculative interpretations of Bosch’s work. He also addresses and dismisses myths portraying Bosch as a heretic, instead situating the artist within a devout religious context, including his membership in the Brotherhood of Our Lady.

Büttner has also played a crucial role in the debate over the authenticity of Samson and Delilah, a painting in the collection of the National Gallery, London, attributed to Rubens. The work, acquired in 1980, has been subject to renewed scrutiny by critics and A.I.-based authentication firms, but remains accepted by leading Rubens scholars. As chairman of the Centrum Rubenianum and general editor of the Corpus Rubenianum, Büttner has dismissed claims challenging the painting's attribution as “conspiracy theories,” declining to engage further with recent popular critiques.^[13] His position aligns with that of many art historians who emphasize stylistic evolution in Rubens's work and the limits of technical analysis in isolation.

• Büttner, N. (2000). Die Erfindung der Landschaft: Landschaftskunst und Kosmographie im Zeitalter Bruegels. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.^[14]
• Büttner, N. (2006). Herr P. P. Rubens. Von der Kunst, berühmt zu werden. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.^[15]
• Büttner, N. (2006). Landscape Painting: A History. New York: Abbeville Press.
• Büttner, N. (2007). Rubens. Munich: C.H. Beck.
• Büttner, N. (2008). Landscape Painting: A History. New York: Abbeville Press.
• Büttner, N. (2010). Vermeer. Munich: C.H. Beck.
• Büttner, N. (2012). Hieronymus Bosch. Munich: C.H. Beck.
• Büttner, N. (2014). Rembrandt: Licht und Schatten. Stuttgart: Reclam.
• Büttner, N. (2014). Einführung in die frühneuzeitliche Ikonographie. Darmstadt: WBG.
• Büttner, N. (2015). Peter Paul Rubens: Eine Biographie. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner.
• Büttner, N. (2016). Hieronymus Bosch: Visions and nightmares. London: Reaktion Books.
• Büttner, N. (2018). Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Munich: C.H. Beck.
• Büttner, N. (2018). Rubens: Allegories and subjects from literature [Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XII] (2 vols.). London–Turnhout: Brepols.
• Büttner, N. (2020). Genre scenes. London: Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard.
• Büttner, N. (2023). Vermeer: De schilder die de tijd stilzet (M. de Vries & M. Leene, Trans.). Amsterdam: Meulenhoff.
• Büttner, N. (2023). The Medici Series [Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XIV, 1] (2 vols.). London–Turnhout: Brepols.

• Voermann, I., & Büttner, N. (Eds.). (2012). Das Auge der Welt: Otto Dix und die Neue Sachlichkeit. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz.
• Poeschel, S., Weissert, C., & Büttner, N. (Eds.). (2013). Zwischen Lust und Frust: Die Kunst in den Niederlanden und am Hof Philipps II. von Spanien (1527–1598). Cologne: Böhlau.
• Blattner, E., Ratzeburg, W., & Büttner, N. (Eds.). (2014). Der fotografierte Krieg. Tübingen: Universitätsstadt Tübingen.
• Lehnert, V., & Büttner, N. (Eds.). (2015). Die Schärfe der Bilder: Die Radierung im Umkreis der Stuttgarter Kunstakademie. Bietigheim-Bissingen: Städtische Galerie.
• Nauhaus, J. M., Pokorny, E., Silver, L., & Büttner, N. (Eds.). (2016). Hieronymus Bosch in the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Vienna: Akademie der bildenden Künste.

• Büttner, N. (2000). "Quid Siculas sequeris per mille pericula terras?". Ein Beitrag zur Biographie Pieter Bruegels d. Ä. und zur Kulturgeschichte der niederländischen Italienreise. Marburger Jahrbuch fur Kunstwissenschaft, 209-242.
• Büttner, N. (2003). Landschaften des Exils? Anmerkungen zu Gillis van Coninxloo und zur Geschichte der flämischen Waldlandschaft aus Anlaß einer Neuerscheinung. Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 66(H. 4), 546-580.
• Büttner, N., & Kessler, S. Ch. (2023). Gelassenheit im Äußersten: Rubens’ „Kreuzigung Petri“ in Köln. Stimmen der Zeit, 241(4), 263–272.

• Bertram, G., & Büttner, N. (Eds.). (2018). Sinnbild / Bildsinn: Rubens als Buchkünstler. Elbingen: Verband Deutscher Antiquare e.V.
• Büttner, N. , & Diefenthaler, S. (Eds.), (2021) Peter Paul Rubens: Becoming Famous. Dresden: Sandstein Verlag.
• Büttner, N., & Orlando, A. (Eds.). (2022). Rubens a Genova. Milan: Electa.

• Faculty page at the State Academy of Fine Arts Stuttgart
• Literature by and about Nils Büttner in the German National Library
• Nils Büttner in the FID Benelux research directory