Joseph Destrée (3 August 1853 — 26 March 1932) was a Belgian art historian. Born in

Dinant Dinant () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. On the shores of river Meuse, in the Ardennes, it lies south-east of Brussels, south ...

, he received a degree in philosophy and letters from what is today the

Université de Namur The University of Namur or ''Université de Namur'' (UNamur) is a Jesuit university in Namur, in the French Community of Belgium. Both teaching and research in the university are carried out by six ''faculties''. Location The University of Nam ...

and also studied law at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (; ) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven or KU Leuven (1968 ...

. One of his professors,

Edmond Reusens Edmond Henri Joseph Reusens (25 April 1831 in Wijnegem, Antwerp – 25 December 1903 in Leuven) was a Belgian archeologist and historian. Biography Sent to the University of Leuven immediately after his ordination to the priesthood ( ...

, encouraged him to attend a seminar on archaeology at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

in Germany, and in 1886 he was appointed deputy curator of the ''Musée royal d'antiquités et d'armures'', or museum of antiquities and armour, located in the

Halle Gate The Halle Gate (, ; ; Brusselian: ''Allepout'') is a former medieval city gate and the last vestige of the second walls of Brussels, Belgium. Built in the 14th century, it was heavily restored in the 19th century in its current neo-Gothic st ...

in Brussels. Destrée would then pursue a career working in museums in Belgium and contributing to art historical publications. In 1894 he published a standalone volume on medieval sculpture in

Brabant Brabant is a traditional geographical region (or regions) in the Low Countries of Europe. It may refer to: Place names in Europe Belgium * Province of Brabant, which in 1995 was split up into two provinces and an autonomous region: ** Flemish Br ...

, ''Étude sur la sculpture brabançonne au moyen-âge''. His interests included the study of wood sculpture, miniatures, tapestry, ivory, and metal arts. He also wrote two studies on

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

s: ''Les heures de Notre-Dame dites de Hennessy'' on the so-called Hours of Hennessy (1895) and the ''Les Heures dites da Costa'' about the Da Costa Book of Hours (1924, co-authored with Pierre Bautier). He also published a study on the painter

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes ( – 1482) was a Flemish painter who was one of the most significant and original Early Netherlandish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduced i ...

(1914). Destrée retired in 1920. He was married to Marie Deharveng, who died in 1912. Joseph Destrée died in

Etterbeek Etterbeek (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the eastern part of the region, it is bordered by the municipalities of Auderghem, the Cit ...

in 1932.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Destrée, Joseph 1853 births 1932 deaths 19th-century Belgian historians 20th-century Belgian historians Belgian art historians Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Université de Namur alumni