Van Eyck
In 1965 she published an eight-volume inventory of "churches, cities, and villages in East Flanders". The inventory of the St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent began her lifelong passion for artists Hubert and Jan van Eyck. In her capacity as inspector, she had access to original sources which began a long scholarly examination of the "Ghent Altarpiece". The original sources allowed her to separate the work from "erroneous interpretations and mystifications" and "situate it in its original context". Additionally she studied 12th century theologian, Rupert of Deutz's commentaries which she considered an important iconographical influence on the van Eycks. She published "Van Eyck: The Ghent Altarpiece" in 1973. Throughout the 1970s she continued to publish about the van Eyck brothers, culminating with the 1980 monograph "Hubert and Jan van Eyck". The monograph was eagerly anticipated, according to Lorne Campbell, who wrote of it on publication that "it must take its place immediately as the standard work on the artists". According to Campbell, Dhanens brought a fresh vision to existing van Eyck scholarship, much of which had been contradictory, saying about Dhanens that she "has a considerably greater respect for historical truth and for logical deduction than most of the art historians who have previously written about the van Eycks."