Dr. Karen De Coene

Karen De Coene (°1970, Lokeren) is a researcher at the Geography Department of Ghent University. Being involved with several projects on cartographical heritage and historical cartography, she is currently curator of the exhibition 'Liber Floridus. Cartography circa 1100' which will take place in STAM - Ghent City Museum from September 30th 2011 until January 8th 2012. See www.stamgent.be for further information.

Karen De Coene received a PhD in Art Sciences at K.U. Leuven and a Master's Degree in Art Sciences at Ghent University. In her PhD 'Navel-Night. Cosmology and Regeneration in the Middle Ages' she examined the presence of the twelfth century encyclopedia 'Liber Floridus' in the fifteenth century library of the Burgundian nobleman Philip of Cleves. The 'Liber Floridus' is one of the masterpieces that are preserved in Ghent's University Library. The digitalized images and further information are available at www.liberfloridus.be.

In 2008 she was curator of the exhibition 'Desire. Contrasting Alabaster' at Malines, see desire-expo.stadmechelen.eu. She was as well author of the exhibition catalogue which became an essay on the contrasting nature of culture based upon sixteenth and seventeenth century iconography.

Her current research focuses on historical cartography since and -although there is a strong interest in medieval cartography-, she deals as well with other cartographic themes until the nineteenth century.

Current Research and Exhibition Projects:

  • Liber Floridus. Cartography around 1100
  • The Carte de Cabinet of Count Joseph de Ferraris (1726-1814)
  • Maps and globes of Gerard Mercator
  • Medieval intellectual networksv

Selected publications:

  • De Coene K., 2009. Het religieuze wereldbeeld van Lambertus van Sint-Omaars. Trajecta 18(1), 3-22.
  • De Coene K., 2007. Desire. Contrasten in albast. Mechelen, Stedelijke Musea.
  • De Coene K, 2007. The Winnow and the Sifted Past. From the Emblem to the Library and back again. In: Entre la ville, la noblesse et lՎtat. Brepols, pp. 161-181.
  • De Coene K., 2006. Navelnacht. Kosmologie en Regeneratie in de Middeleeuwen (PhD). K.U. Leuven.
  • De Coene, K. 2001. My wisdom in a book: On the collecting of knowledge. In: Medieval Mastery. Davidsfonds, pp. 76-87.

Prepared for publication in 2011:

  • De Coene, K., Ongena, T., Stragier, F., Vervust, S., Bracke, W., De Maeyer, Ph., 2011. Ferraris, The Legend. The Cartographic Journal (intended publication)
  • De Coene, K, De Maeyer, Ph., 2011. Always the Sun. Light in the maps of the Liber Floridus. Imago Mundi (intended publication)
  • Deneckere, A., De Reu, M., Martens, M.P.J., De Coene, K., Vekemans, B., Vincze, L., Vandenabeele, P., Moens, L., 2011. The Use of a Multi-Method Approach to Identify the Pigments in the 12th Century Manuscript Liber Floridus, Journal of Raman Microspectroscopy. Special Issue (intended publication)
  • De Coene, K., De Reu, M., De Maeyer, Ph., (eds.) 2011. Liber Floridus. Lannoo.