Flanders
Today, Flanders is known as the Dutch speaking part of Belgium, but the historic County of Flanders comprised areas that are now part of France and the Netherlands. In the 15th century, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, set up court in Bruges, then one of the greatest cities of Europe. Here a group of master painters, today known as the “Early Netherlandish” painters or “Flemish Primitives”, revolutionized painting. Jan van Eyck, Robert Campin, Rogier van der Weyden and their contemporaries introduced new techniques, such as oil painting, and a new sense of realism to European art.In the early 16th century, political and economic dominance shifted from Bruges and Ghent to the area of Brabant, in particular to Antwerp, which at the time accounted for a full 40 percent of world trade. Antwerp was the second largest city north of the Alps, the leading European financial hub, and a centre of the arts. For ten years, the greatest master painter of the Flemish Renaissance, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, had his workshop in Antwerp before he moved to Brussels. There his sons Pieter Breughel the Younger and Jan Breughel the Elder and eventually his grandson Jan Brueghel the Younger continued his tradition.
After Antwerp fell to the Spanish, the whole of Flanders went into a slow decline. The artistic tradition, however, continued well into the 17th century: Antwerp was home to the great Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens and his pupil Anthony van Dyck. The end of the Golden Age came soon after Rubens’ death: in 1648, the Treaty of Münster effectively shut down Antwerp’s port for two centuries. With the dwindling economy, the cultural significance of Flanders also declined.
The Flemish Masters
The historic County of Flanders was home to an amazing number of immortal painters, from the Early Netherlandish masters working at the court of Burgundy to the Renaissance dynasty of the Breughel family and on to the greatest master of Flemish Baroque, Peter Paul Rubens.
Discovering the Here and Now
In the early 15th century, artists started to see the world with new eyes: for the first time, they tried to show it as it really was. The “Flemish Primitives” like Campin, Rogier van der Weyden and most of all Jan van Eyck revolutionized painting…▶ The Berlin Gemäldegalerie▶ Flanders
Peasants, Flowers and Hell
A European dynasty: Pieter Brueghel started the business, painting peasants or the famously insightful “Dutch Proverbs”. His older son continued the tradition whilst Jan Breughel shows us just how much you can put into a simple bouquet of flowers…▶ The Berlin Gemäldegalerie▶ Flanders
A Master at the Courts of Europe
A true cosmopolitan, Peter Paul Rubens was fluent in five languages and a respected diplomat in addition to being the greatest painter of his time. Or rather, “designer-in-chief” of his own studio. He was called “The Homer of Painting” for a reason…▶ The Berlin Gemäldegalerie▶ Flanders