Team

Francesca Schneider

After her MA graduation in Painting Conservation at the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden | HfBK Dresden (Germany), Francesca worked for different federal institutions, such as the Nationalgalerie Berlin | Foundation of Prussian Cultural Heritage (Germany) and KIK-IRPA | Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage, and private institutions such as BOZAR | Centre for Fine Arts Brussels and SRAL | Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg. Because of her work in museums, she takes a great interest in preventive conservation.
 Evaluation of conservation and exhibition conditions, protection, storage, transport, specific packing, … there are many challenges to meet in contemporary art.

Inge Van Den Boogaart

Inge graduated in easel painting restoration at IFAPME (Belgium). She studied art at Saint-Luc Bruxelles and has been deeply involved in the world of art for several years now. Inge has, in particular, worked for six years in the Pierre Bergé et Associés public auction rooms in Brussels. For several years now, Inge has specialised in the restoring of materialistic paintings. She is also in charge of the upkeep of outdoor sculptures.

Stéphanie Breydel de Groeninghe

As an art historian and archaeologist, a qualified expert antiquarian and dealer in works of art, Stéphanie Breydel de Groeninghe enjoys dual expertise in ancient and contemporary art. She worked with gallery owners before joining AXA Art, then Hiscox for their Private and Art Clientele in Europe.

Making the most of her considerable experience in art collection management, she created the AXA Luxembourg collection and helped manage the art collections of other companies in Luxembourg. In these various roles, Stéphanie has organised many public and private events as well as many guided visits for companies and their clients during major international art fairs. She also supports Family Offices and international private banks so they can offer a service to their private clientele as part of supporting and managing their collection.

With a special interest in the preservation and conservation of art objects, and passionate about her profession, Stéphanie is delighted to be joining the teams of the Nicolas Lemmens studio so she can best help and support art professionals and collectors in taking care of their objects with total confidentiality.

Stéphane de Bruyn

Having graduated in Business & Administration (MBA) from Monaco, Stéphane has for over 20 years been putting his creativity and sense of detail at the service of a high-end clientele for personalised events, from Monaco to Saint Tropez. As a Director of the JustUnlimited company, he had the pleasure of developing a real bond with his clients, whilst enhancing the most professional service providers of the Côte d’Azur. In order to become more involved with his passion for modern and contemporary art, Stéphane then decided to return with his family to Brussels, his home town. Particularly interested by the question of the conservation as much as the passing down of works of art, he decided to join the Nicolas Lemmens Studio team, with whom he shares the same values: passion, professionalism and confidentiality. His mission consists of attentively providing assistance to collectors and professionals in order to increasingly personalise their relationship with the various Nicolas Lemmens Studio specialists, and the follow-up support provided for their restoration activities.

Gaël Diercxsens

In 1988 Gaël started an apprenticeship and worked in the leading furniture and objects studio Adragante in Brussels for 5 years. She then opened her own conservation studio working for private clients and professionals.

In 1998 Gaël, driven by her passion, moved towards the contemporary art sector as a director of various galleries. After the Dorothée De Pauw Gallery and the Baronian-Francey Gallery she worked for 5 years as Barbara Gladstone’s European Director and remains today an adviser to the gallery. She worked in close relationship with major international artists, curators, museums, institutions, foundations and collectors to build artists’ careers. These professional relationships are ongoing.

In 2014 she started managing contemporary art collections. Artworks necessitate a certain responsibility, and Gaël supervises every aspect of taking care of a collection, from inventory and documentation to shipping, insurance, storage, framing, installation and conservation. Gaël also manages museum and institutional loans.
Her deep knowledge of modern and contemporary art and her experience in both conservation and exhibition organisation makes Gaël the perfect curator of private displays. Gaël sits on the board of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh and the Walter & Nicole Leblanc Foundation.

Annie Gilbert

Annie is a fine arts graduate from the Laval University in Quebec as well as of the ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels, having studied the conservation-restoration of ceramics and glass. Throughout the period of her training she developed great versatility in dealing with works constructed from various materials, in particular in carrying out the conservation of archaeological and ethnographic objects at both the Congo National Museums Institute in Kinshasa and the Quebec Conservation Centre. It was moreover during a work placement programme in Quebec that she discovered a particular interest in the restoration of outdoor metal sculptures.

She subsequently specialised in this area with private restorers in France. This provided the opportunity to come to grips with several recurrent problems in the conservation of this type of heritage, such as maintenance, transportation, patinas, reconstitution, working with foundries and the mounting of works on bases. As of now she is involved with questions which fascinate her in continuing her work at the Nicolas Lemmens restoration company, as well as at the Quebec Conservation Centre.

In her professional practice at the Nicolas Lemmens Studio, she wishes to mesh together the different approaches to conservation implemented in Quebec and in Europe, in order to develop her expertise at the service of conservation of contemporary metal sculptures.

Laura Porcu

Laura graduated in 2009 from Palazzo Spinelli in Florence as a technician specializing in the restoration of paintings on canvas and panel. Before moving to Turin to continue her training, she worked in the Dambra Restauri studio.

In Turin, she obtained a master’s degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage with a specialization in stone materials and stone derivatives. She wrote a thesis on the use of pins in the reassembly of a marble sculpture representing Venus.

In Belgium she did an internship at the Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) in the stone materials laboratory, during which she took part in the major restoration project of the choir of the Church of Our Lady of the Sablon.

She then worked on a range of projects with several Belgian companies. She independently handled the restoration of the collection of statues in the Jardins d’Annevoie and the war memorials of the First and Second World Wars on the Grote Markt in Kortrijk.

Laura has a passion for funerary art, the authentication of works of art and the organization of work sites. She is the latest addition to the Studio Nicolas Lemmens team, which she joined in 2022.

Jolien Struyven

Jolien received her master’s degree in painting conservation and restoration from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2018. Here she began researching and restoring contemporary paintings from her 3rd bachelor degree. During her studies, she attended a summer training at Palazzo Spinelli in Florence, Italy, for the restoration of paintings on canvas and panel.

After her studies, she gained multidisciplinary experience for five years by collaborating in the restoration of several historical interiors in Belgium. For example, she participated in the conservation and restoration of marouflages, paintings and polychrome finishes in the City Hall of Antwerp.

She also has experience in the preventive conservation of works of art through her internship in the depot of Museum M in Leuven, and through the registration, conservation and transport of various heritage collections.

Because of her passion for contemporary and modern art, and the challenges involved, she joined Nicolas Lemmens Studio.