Flemish Artist Research Articles

The Enchanted Gaze: Modification of Butterfly Eyespots in Flemish Art

Abstract As shown by Palaeolithic cave paintings, animals were the first subjects that humans began to depict and recall in their imagination, not solely for their utilitarian function. Some animals, due to distinctive morphological features, appear to have captured our ancestors’ attention in a special way. This is the case of animals with eye-like patterns, which have been reproduced in multiple ways and contexts throughout human history. This paper examines how Flemish artists have depicted a particular example of eye-like patterns, the eyespots on the wings of Aglais io butterflies, to understand whether these artists attributed any particular relevance to the eyespots. Modifications were identified by comparing 51 images of A. io specimens with 50 depicted ones by means of geometric morphometric using 34 landmarks and 12 semi-landmarks. Generally, eyespots resulted to be located towards the interior of the wing, enabling us to discriminate 92% of depicted A. io from real images. This tendency is in line with the observer centre bias but, in this case, applied to the production of pictorial images rather than to their visual fruition, and which might be called ‘a shifting location bias’. Moreover, the eyespots’ size was depicted with accuracy and minimal variation among painters, while the outline of the wings appeared to be subject to considerable artistic freedom. Overall, these findings highlight the importance attributed by the artists to the eyespots, sustaining the hypothesis concerning the salience of this feature in attracting human attention.

Timber trade in 17th-century Europe: different wood sources for artworks of Flemish painters

The former Spanish Netherlands experienced a period of social, cultural and economic prosperity in the seventeenth century, with Antwerp as its most important commercial and artistic centre. The era’s vibrant art scene, once pivotal culturally, economically, and diplomatically, now offers invaluable insights for scientific studies on art, trade, and craftsmanship. In a study on 294 panel paintings by or related to two famous Flemish artists, Jacques Jordaens (1593–1678) and Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), we applied classical art historical techniques, archival research, dendrochronology, and the study of panel maker’s and guild marks on the painting’s reverse to gain insights into the precise time of tree felling, the geographical provenance of the wood, and the panel makers patronised by the painters. The majority of the paintings (~ 80%), which were subjected to a dendrochronological analysis, could be dated and the results accorded well with the concomitant art historical assessment on authorship. Besides an active and well-known Baltic timber trade which provided over 71% of all the planks examined, straight-grained oak trees were also sourced from western Central Europe (20%). Interestingly, planks from the Baltic and the Ardennes region (France/Belgium) were used together in three different paintings, likely cut apart from larger panels. Employing a multidisciplinary approach to a comprehensive painting collection by individual painters provides not only a new tool to determine a painting’s date and authorship but also allows for a better understanding of the contemporary timber trade and associated craftsmanship.

Yu. I. Kuznetsov — Investigator of the 17th Century Dutch and Flemish Art

The article is devoted to the scientific heritage of Yuriy Kuznetsov, the outstanding Soviet art historian, and aims to show his contribution into investigations of the 17th century Dutch and Flemish art, which was the main field in his professional interests. The author traces Kuznetsov’s path in the science for about 30 years, identifies and describes thematic lines of his researches and shows the importance of his works for the development of Netherlandish studies in Russia. Being a brilliant master of attribution, Kuznetsov established the authorship of many Dutch pictures in the state Hermitage (where he worked since 1947 until his death) and in the funds of regional museums. He published investigations about Nicolaus Knüpfer, Adriaen van Ostade, Jan Steen, Nicolaes Berhem and other figures of Italianized trend in Dutch school. His monograph about Rembrandt’s picture “Danae” in the Hermitage collection is a classic example of acomprehensive study of art work (1970). The combination of stylistic and iconographic analysis with results of technological examination and involvement of biographical data made it possible to definitively identify the plot of this picture and reveal its history, connected with the creative evolution and private life of the painter. Kuznetsov also studied Flemish and Dutch drawings with success. Works of Rubens’s graphics (1965, 1974) and the book covering the development of drawings in the Netherlands in the 15th–17th centuries (1981, sole in Russian science to now days) are the most important in this part of his legacy. Kuznetsov was the organizer of number exhibitions dedicated to the masters of Flanders and Holland, the author of guide-book to the Dutch exposition in Hermitage. The methodology of his researches combines close attention to every art work and broad cultural outlook, interest to creative connections and influences between masters. Kuznetsov’s scientific activity by its intensity, variety of subjects and outstanding results has to call one of the great pages in historiography of Flemish and Dutch art.

Проблема художника в «итальянской прозе» А. Н. Майкова («Пикник во Флоренции») и в романе И. А. Гончарова «Обрыв»

The Maykov literary and artistic salon played a significant role in shaping the aesthetics of Ivan Goncharov, with some members sharing the writer’s creative attitudes towards the contemporary historical and literary process. One of the influential figures was Apollon Maykov. During the 1840s, a time when Russian literature was at an “aesthetic crossroads,” the poet travelled to Italy. His stay in this country resulted in the essay “Picnic in Florence” (1848) where the poet, art critic, and former artist, addresses important problems of verbal and visual art. At the same time, Ivan Goncharov, Maykov’s teacher and a close friend of his family, begins to write a novel “The Artist” (“The Precipice” 1869). In their critical works on painting, both Goncharov and Maykov discussed the two fundamental schools of Italian and Flemish art, which together create a comprehensive depiction of life and embody a holistic approach to art. The main characters in Goncharov’s and Maykov’s texts are remarkably alike, characterized by their innate talent for transforming reality into poetic visual representations. The proximity of Goncharov’s Raisky to Maykov’s Gorunin and Tarneev images highlights their shared commitment to the fundamental principles of modern art: a meticulous portrayal of everyday existence and a celebration of the beauty inherent in the ordinary. These postulates allowed Goncharov and Maykov to achieve a creative synthesis of the “high” and the “every-day,” a central aspect of their aesthetic stance.

THE IMAGE OF ANNA YAROSLAVNA IN FINE ARTS: PAST AND PRESENT

The article focuses on the iconography of Anna Yaroslavna (around 1032-between 1075 and 1089), the daughter of Yaroslav Mudry (983/98-1054), who was married to Henry I (1027-1060) and acquired the status of Queen of France. The study is based on the most famous portraits created by artists from the Middle Ages to the present day in various types of visual arts - sculpture, painting, graphics, numismatics. It is not known for certain what the princess looked like – rather insignificant evidence about her appearance has been preserved. In historical chronicles, the red hair color of the young wife of Henry I is primarily noted. More often, character traits are emphasized – kindness, generosity, humility, self-sacrifice. Portraits of the daughter of Yaroslav Mudry during his lifetime cause heated discussions in scientific circles. It is hypothesized that the sons and not daughters of Yaroslav the Wise are depicted in St. Sophia Cathedral (11th century). And on the copy of the 18th century from a drawing by the Dutch artist A. van Westerfeld in 1651, another couple is represented – Volodymyr Svyatoslavych and his wife Anna (baptizers of Rus) accompanied by eight princes and princesses. Engraved and sculptural portraits of the 17th century, despite the fashionable image of the era, reveal certain characteristic features of Anna Yaroslavna – thinness, general elegance, elongated face oval. Modern Ukrainian artists (V. Znoba, M. Znoba, G. Sevruk, V. Stelmakh), recreating the image of Anna Yaroslavna, are guided by the well-known engraved image of the Flemish artist Jacobus de Bie in 1643. At the same time, each portrait is distinguished by the author's decision and virtuoso mastery of the material. The presented article is not only the first intelligence covering pictorial and historical sources. The collected material testifies to the significant contribution of national history to the development of the European political and cultural space, is a demonstration of unity and friendly relations between Ukraine and France.

ТИПЫ ЭКФРАСИСОВ МАЙКЛА ФРЕЙНА В РОМАНЕ «ОДЕРЖИМЫЙ» И ИХ РОЛЬ В ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ ТЕКСТА

The article is devoted to the intermedial analysis of the novel “Headlong” by Michael Frayn. The plot of the novel is an adventure of a connoisseur of art who is looking for a lost painting by a famous Flemish artist. The research focuses on the ekphrastic descriptions of Pieter Bruegel’s paintings in the literary text with the aim of identifying the types of mimetic and non-mimetic ekphrases used in the novel. The text contains ekphrastic descriptions of both real and imaginary works of art, which can be full and complete or short and precise. Different types of ekphrasis contribute to the integrity and authenticity of the plot, its dynamism and thrill. The composition of the complete mimetic and non-mimetic ekphrases is similar and represents the same key issues.

The Wisdom of Bacchus: Emblematic, Iconographic and Literary Allusions in the Hermitage Painting by P. P. Rubens

The painting “Bacchus” by Peter Paul Rubens (State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg) has frequently attracted the attention of both local and foreign researchers. In this article, we question the interpretation of the painting as a simple allegory of the autumn grape harvest and the celebration of production of young wine. Bacchanalian subjects since Antiquity have been loaded with additional meanings associated with regeneration and creative potentials. The latter aspect was picked up and developed by Renaissance artists. Rubens followed often that tradition. L. D. Davis saw in the Hermitage painting a metaphor of the creative method of the Flemish painter, who trusted intuitive impulses more than rigid rules. We share partially this point of view, but we propose to consider the named work in a broader sense than that scholar did. It seems to us that Rubens presented in “Bacchus” his allegorical self-portrait, emphasizing his love of life and his philosophical emancipation. Thus, the Flemish artist expressed his opposition to moralizing and short-sighted opinions in contemporary culture and his desire to return to the breadth of the Renaissance vision. As a consequence, the allusions contained in his painting to “The Andrians” by Titian, some emblems by Andrea Alciato, as well as the new Rubens interpretation of Comus, an ancient character, which John Milton used in his didactic mask a few years before the creation of Hermitage work, — don’t seem accidental. The portly Bacchus in the painting is presented as the lord of earthly diversity and boundless abundance, at the same time he is a wise mentor-judge, indicating how to properly handle all this wealth open to human race. The concept of the boon as the right disposal of freedom and desires, reflected in iconographic system of the Hermitage painting, fits with the ideas of Plato’s dialogue “Feast”.

Review: Rubens in Repeat: The Logic of the Copy in Colonial Latin America, by Aaron M. Hyman; Clothing the New World Church: Liturgical Textiles of Spanish America, 1520–1820, by Maya Stanfield-Mazzi

Review: <i>Rubens in Repeat: The Logic of the Copy in Colonial Latin America</i>, by Aaron M. Hyman; <i>Clothing the New World Church: Liturgical Textiles of Spanish America, 1520–1820</i>, by Maya Stanfield-Mazzi

The Illusionist

The Illusionist

К вопросу о возможных иконографических прототипах «Портрета Жанны Кефер» Фернана Кнопфа

Methodologically based on the principles of comparative iconographic and stylistic analysis, this article is devoted to the problem of establishing possible prototypes of Fernand Khnopff’s Portrait of Jeanne Kéfer, one of the most significant works created by the master in 1885, now included in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Taking into account the historiographic aspect of studying the portrait of Jeanne Kéfer and the current scientific approaches by modern researchers of Belgian Symbolism to the analysis of Khnopff’s portrait concept, the authors of the article put forward a hypothesis according to which in the process of creating the work in question (in addition to photographs, automatons or porcelain dolls, which are most often mentioned by researchers) individual paintings by the masters of the golden age of Dutch and Flemish art could have served as an iconographic prototype. The portrait of Jeanne Kéfer, as well as a number of other children’s portraits created by the artist in 1880–1890s, is compared, in particular, with the works by Gerard ter Borch the Younger, Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck, and Cornelis de Vos. To prove the assumptions put forward, the authors of the article give examples of the sources that Khnopff could potentially use, namely, the publications in periodicals, catalogues and private collections. The study also highlights that taking into account the actualization of the discourse of historical and cultural memory, which took place in Belgium in the second half of the 19th century, and the need for an ideological rethinking of the national origins of Belgian visual culture, the appeal of Khnopff, as well as of other masters of Belgian Symbolism, to the artistic heritage of the 17th century is quite possible and justified.

The bassoon as a monument of musical culture: source studies

The article for the first time in Ukrainian historiography, museology and monumentology considers works of European fine art, where there is an image of a wind wooden musical instrument bassoon. Works of painting, graphics, works of monumental art (sculpture) are analyzed. This is a characteristic of the collections of bassoons in museums in Western Europe, the USA and Canada. Publications stored in the funds of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Yaroslav Mudryi National Library Of Ukraine, the National Historical Library of Ukraine, the National Scientific and Research Restoration Center of Ukraine were used. The expositions of the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts (Kyiv), the Museum of Theatrical, Musical and Film Art of Ukraine (Kyiv), the State Yagotynsky Historical Museum (Yagotyn, Kyiv Region), as well as Internet resources of collections of wind instruments of a number of museums in Europe, the USA and Canada are analyzed. Materials from the personal archive and musical collection of the bassoonist, teacher in the class of wind musical instruments, soloist of orchestra V. Kepin (Kyiv) were involved. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that the Flemish artist Dеnis van Alsloot can be considered one of the first in European painting, which brought to our time the composition of wind musical instruments characteristic of the musical culture of Western Europe of the XVII century. In Ukraine, one of the oldest copies of the bassoon (1730s) is stored in the Museum of Theatrical, Musical and Film Art of Ukraine (Kyiv).

Kuzey Rönesansı’nda Yenilikçi Bir Ressam: Jan Van Eyck

With the Renaissance, societies have a wide variety of options with different perspectives on life and accordingly. It allows building and building the development in chapters 14 and 16. The Renaissance, which played an important role in the system and life of the society, must have been completed in the 16th, 14th and 14th centuries. Changes, techniques and development of art in its own period in the developmental stages of the Renaissance. Renaissance performances from the Northern Renaissance, illustrated shows, experimental images, and oil painting techniques are the supporting arts. It is aimed at advanced understandings, contemporary understandings, contemporary understanding and, in parallel, the 15th century understanding of life and art of the Renaissance. In general, the styles of those who are thought to be critically evaluated in Flemish Art are emphasized. Focus on the product and quarry in Eyk work van. It will be applied in the application of the work done and the work done. We invite you to Northern Renaissance for a naturalistic understanding.

A pan-European art trade in the late middle ages: Isotopic evidence on the master of Rimini enigma.

The identity of artists and localisation of workshops are rarely known with certainty before the mid-15th century. We investigated the material used by one of the most prolific and enigmatic medieval sculptors, the Master of the Rimini Altarpiece or Master of Rimini, active around 1420–40. The isotope fingerprints (Sr, S and O) of a representative corpus of masterpieces but also minor artworks, attributed to the Master of Rimini and his workshop, are virtually identical, demonstrating the unity of the corpus and a material evidence behind the stylistic and iconographic ascriptions. The material used is exclusively Franconian (N-Bavarian) alabaster, 600 km distant from the supposed zone of activity of the Master of Rimini workshop according to recent literature. The same material was later used by the prominent Late Medieval German carver Tilman Riemenschneider, active in Würzburg after 1483, whose small corpus of alabaster sculptures we have been able to characterize almost entirely. Based on these findings, we propose here an alternative to the prevailing hypothesis of a Flemish or N-French workshop being founded on similarities of the Rimini sculpture with motives in Flemish and French painting. Our scenario, returning to the initial proposal of a German localisation of the Master of Rimini workshop, assumes the migration of an artist, perhaps trained in the Low Countries or strongly inspired by the Flemish art, to Southern Germany where he founded a highly productive export workshop, well situated on the crossroads of medieval trade, with a pan-European radiance. This study sheds a spotlight on the on the trade networks of luxury goods, the raw material used for their production, and the high-end art market in Europe as well as on international migration of artists and styles, at the eve of the Renaissance.

The art trade between Flanders and Madeira Island in the 15th and 16th centuries – The contribution of dendrochronology to the history of Portuguese heritage

Flemish paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries, now preserved in public and private collections on Madeira Island, provide unequivocal witness to the trade link that existed between Flanders and this Portuguese territory. This article focuses on a dendrochronological approach to date fifteen paintings from thirteen artworks ascribed to several Flemish artists working in the 15th and 16th century and currently exhibited in the Museum of Sacred Art of Funchal (Madeira Island). The dendrochronological results consolidate the historical and iconographic dates reported in the museum catalogue for fourteen paintings, also allowing a more precise dating of one of the studied artworks assigned to Joos van Cleeve's workshop. Furthermore, new knowledge has been added to the panel attributed to Marinus van Reymerswaelle, indicating that it was painted after the historical dating, in the painter's late years. This study has resulted in the construction of a new historical oak chronology for the Baltic region, covering the period 1157–1599 and based on chronological series acquired from several research studies of Portuguese and Flemish paintings carried out over the previous decades. The new chronology can be considered as a valuable new tool for future research into Portuguese and Flemish paintings, sculptures, and furniture from Portuguese cultural heritage collections.

Quatre Peintres Belges au Travail: Paul Haesaerts’s Film on Edgar Tytgat, Albert Dasnoy, Jean Brusselmans and Paul Delvaux (1952)

Belgian art historian and filmmaker Paul Haesaerts (1901–1974) made a significant contribution to the promotion of modern Flemish art. In the late 1940s, he started experimenting with the medium of film to practice a new form of lens-based art criticism. The understudied documentary Quatre peintres belges au travail (1952) presents Belgian artists Edgar Tytgat, Albert Dasnoy, Jean Brusselmans and Paul Delvaux at work in their studio. On a large sheet of glass placed in front of the camera, they each paint one of the seasons that also represent a stage in a person’s life. A close reading of this Kodachrome color film sheds light on the context of mid-century art reproductions, mass media and post-war Flemish culture. It also examines in what way this film operates as Haesaerts’s concept of cinéma critique, while raising questions as to the way Haesaerts attempted to reconcile the spatial art of painting with the temporal medium of film.

When the Sky Is Low and Heavy: David Lamelas and Transnational Heritage in Flanders

In 1992, artist David Lamelas installed Quand le ciel bas et lourd at the temporary exhibition America: Bride of the Sun—500 Years of Latin-America and the Low Countries at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), a show that explored the cultural, economic, and political exploitation of indigenous America by European forces, and its project of colonization and erasure. Lamelas’ work remained a public installation in KMSKA’s garden until March 2021 when it was dismantled as a result of the museum’s years-long renovation. This article examines the work in the context in which it was exhibited and later destroyed as a lens to examine two aspects of contemporary art and history in Flanders. Firstly, it foregrounds the complex, transnational heritage that Lamelas’ work presents and considers its implications upon the local, cultural scene in which it resided from the 1960s to 70s, in the 1990s and in the present. Secondly, the text frames Quand le ciel bas et lourd and America: Bride of the Sun as reverberating with the emergence of nationalism in Flanders and a global, postcolonial discourse in the art world. This article considers how aspects of Lamelas’ work and its elusive meanings over space and time might challenge monolithic understandings of Flemish art.

Recto and Verso: The Pictorial Fronts and the Marbled Reverses of Two Flemish Panel Paintings

From the first third of the 15th century onwards, panel paintings with marbled reverses increasingly appeared in Flemish art. The fronts of these panels primarily depicted religious narrative scenes or portraits. The backs were decorated with an abstract pattern, referred to as marbling. These painted marble facsimiles often differed in terms of design from other examples of stone imitations such as those used on the frame decorations of other panels. Unlike these frames, which suggest a greater illusionistic intention, the marbled reverses appear to function as abstract ornamentation. However, this article proposes that the painted backs are thematically linked to the pictorial narratives of the fronts. The marbled backs of Rogier van der Weyden’s Crucifixion and the Portrait of Margareta van Eyck will be considered in the context of a profane and a theological iconography. Both panels feature a reverse that can be identified as both an imitation of red porphyry and a representation of liquid paint. Metaphysical, material–semantic, and theological references will be revealed in the pictorial examples.

Imagining Zoos

Beginning with paintings of dodos and cassowaries by the Flemish artist Roelandt Savery, this essay traces continuities between early-modern European menageries and 21st-century zoos. Arguing that modern zoos persist in attempting to present an imaginary world of superabundance, the article shows how today’s zoo simulations, mid-20th-century zoo-themed board games and toys, and a mid-19th-century paper zoo echo older attitudes toward “nature,” the “natural,” and the “exotic.”

Эстетическая высота произведения искусства и рынок: о художественном качестве подлинном и мнимом

A problem of perfection at art is analyzed in the article according to paradigm of the art market as a system of cultural, economic and social interactions of the art world. The author finds out the vitality of the artwork not only as its essential value but also defines the idea of its imaginary vitality. The latter is created by the art market participants, and it causes the commercial value of the artwork. The article makes an assumption about the division of art, at least of the Modern and Contemporary history, into two spheres — the art of “aesthetic experience” and the art of “commercial success”. While the art of “aesthetic experience” is aimed at finding and creating a new artistic language (the embodiment of new creative ideas, complex ethical and aesthetic problems), the art of “commercial success” follows artistic stereotypes, uses creative innovations in an adapted form, which is included in the cultural and aesthetic system familiar to the audience of art. This antithesis is analyzed in the article by the example of comparing a number of works by two artists of the same time. One is Mikhail Larionov, a prominent artist of the Russian Avant-Garde, and the other is Vladislav Izmailovitch, a typical representative of Salon and Late Academic art. Considering the specific historical aspects of vitality in art, the author analyzes several examples. Firstly, the late oeuvre of the Russian artist Ilya Repin as a metaphor for the “joy of the risen”. Secondly, the Easter rarities of the House of Faberge, which have changed their status over the past century from a home memorabilia to a cultural myth and became an object of the art market nowadays. Thirdly, the exposition of the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2019, where authors and curators exploited the vitality of Dutch and Flemish art of the 17th century as the personification of contemporary creative pursuits.

The Subiconographic Surface: Two Temptations of Saint Anthony Painted on Stone

Under examination are two Temptations of Saint Anthony on stone: one painted on ruin marble by Jacob van Swanenburgh, the other on oriental alabaster by an unknown Flemish artist. I explore the optical properties of the pictorial surface, the ontology of representation, and the impact of the stone support on visual perception. The unique surface qualities of the paintings are considered to function as subiconographic elements closely related to the pictorial subject. I argue that the use of stone as support is largely motivated by both the pictorial subject and religious practices related to it.