The design and development of the Connect Vermeer research project website for the National Gallery of Ireland

Tender description

The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; the Musée du Louvre, Paris; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington will explore the fascinating network of relationships among Dutch genre painters (1650–75) in a thought-provoking exhibition entitled Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting: Inspiration and Rivalry (2017–18). This exhibition will give visitors and scholars an insight into how Vermeer and contemporary painters of exquisite scenes of everyday life admired, inspired, and rivalled each other. The interactions between Dutch genre painters have never been the subject of a comprehensive, systematic study. The exhibition partners, in collaboration with the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD), The Hague, have therefore undertaken a research project addressing the interconnectivity between the seventeen principal genre painters and their works of art. It is our aim to share the combined results of this research project with the public on a website, which will be launched to coincide with the opening of the exhibition in the Musée du Louvre in February 2017. The National Gallery of Ireland will lead the deployment of this website. The purpose of the Invitation to Tender (ITT) is to invite tenders for the design and development of a public website, http://www.connectvermeer.org. The new site must be fully implemented by end of January 2017. The tenderer must commit to a 2 month warranty period after the launch of the website to address any bugs or issues that arise. The new website will present the results of the completed research project and will also act as an interactive digital platform that will stimulate new research into Dutch genre painting. As the project has no precedent in the field of early modern art history, we hope that the website will serve as an example and catalyst scholars interested in recording, studying, and visualizing artistic connections in other areas.