RKD STUDIES

The DttG tool was designed with reuse in mind. While its current form focuses on preparatory layers in Netherlandish painting, its underlying structure is general enough to be adapted for other types of art-historical or heritage-science datasets. The core models (Artists, Cities, Museums, and Artworks) are common to many art historical research contexts and will often remain unchanged. Other components, such as the Data and Colours model are specific to the DttG project and can be modified or replaced with frameworks that reflect the needs of different projects. For instance, a database on eighteenth-century Italian conservation treatments could retain the existing models for artworks and institutions, while replacing the Data model with a new table for treatment types and associated documentation. The architecture is currently being reused by Van Laar in the development of a new database on the use and identification of smalt in Early Modern painting.

To facilitate such reuse, the complete codebase of the DttG application, including its Django models, templates, and query functions, is available on GitHub under an open license. The repository includes both the Python source code and accompanying documentation that explains the architecture of the tool and how to set it up. In addition, the project’s internal documentation (available as PDF) provides a more detailed walk-through of the design choices and workflow. Together, these resources are intended as a practical starting point for researchers who wish to adapt the tool for their own purposes.

Those interested in developing their own database application with Django will find extensive resources beyond the project documentation. The official Django documentation offers a comprehensive guide, and numerous online tutorials provide step-by-step introductions to the framework. Combined with the DttG repository as a working example, these resources can help researchers with limited programming experience begin experimenting with their own adaptations. It is worth noting that the DttG codebase was developed by a technical art historian (Paul van Laar) who had only limited experience with Python at the outset, and learned the necessary skills over the course of two months using freely available tutorials and the Django documentation. This points to the relative accessibility of the framework and the speed with which it can yield working results.