Flemish Masters
The early Flemish painters had a major impact on the
history of European art. Pioneers of oil painting on
wooden panels, they created masterpieces in the 15th
century, which travelled along trade routes, notably to
Italy where artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, stunned
by their quality, in turn adopted oil painting. Many
Flemish painters subsequently absorbed the advances
of the Italian Renaissance, and the peculiarly Flemish
qualities of their art softened. Most notably, Pieter Paul
Rubens cut his teeth in Italy, then brought back an
unprecedented swagger and dynamism, re-establishing
Flanders as a European centre for artistic excellence.102 BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG REGION BY REGION
Jan van Eyck’s realistic portrait
of his wife Margareta in 1439FLEMISH PRIMITIVES
Early Flemish painters such as Jan van Eyck
(c.1400–41), Rogier van der Weyden (c.1400–64)
and Hans Memling (c.1433–94) are often called
the Flemish Primitives. The term comes from
Latin primitivus, or earliest of its kind, as their
art was seen by later historians as a forerunner of
the Renaissance. The Flemish Primitives’ skills
of fine detail and acute observation were based
on monastic traditions of manuscript illustration,
but used oils instead of water-based paints.Rogier van der Weyden is noted for his
emotional intensity. A side panel from
his triptych The Seven Sacraments
(1445) depicts ordination, marriage
and extreme unction.Hans Memling created several paintings for
St-Janshospitaal in Bruges. In The Mystic
Marriage of St Catherine, from around 1479,
the Christ Child places a ring on the saint’s
finger, attended by the hospital’s patrons, St
John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist.