This book offers a lavishly illustrated panorama of the work of Jan van Eyck and his followers, and focuses on their share in the development of painting in southern France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Many of the finest works of European Renaissance painting are reproduced here for the first time in colour and the text includes a fascinating variety of essays by internationally renowned scholars.
Jan van Eyck, the Master of Flémalle, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes, Hans Memling and Gerard David flowered in the period that saw the formation and expansion of a mighty Burgundian state in the prosperous Netherlands and its neighbouring regions.
Members of the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese business communities, such as the Arnolfini and Portinari, took pride in commissioning works by Netherlandish painters that were so eagerly sought after by the princes and urban entrepreneurs of their homelands. The Sforza of Milan sent their court painter Bugatto to train with Rogier van der Weyden; Alfonso V of Aragon ordered his painter Dalmau to travel to the Netherlands; and Isabella of Castile appointed Juan de Flandes alongside other Northerners. In addition, the presence of Netherlandish works of art in the South inspired Iberian, French and Italian artists such as Jean Fouquet, Filippo Lippi, Antonello da Messina, Bartolomé Bermejo and Nuno Gonçalves.
The Age of Van Eyck beautifully explores not only the works of art, but the complex artistic, cultural, socioeconomic and political relationships of this crucial period.publiarq.com