The Rise and Fall: Netherlandish art in Portugal (1450-1550)

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The Rise and Fall

Netherlandish art in Portugal (1450-1550)

A Thesis Presented to

The Faculty of Humanities University of Amsterdam

Tim Smeets

Art History

28 May 2019

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Introduction

In the past five centuries Portugal’s rapid rise has been chronicled often. Its contemporary artistic expressions, however, have been largely overlooked or solely presented as the products of a prosperous Portugal. However, in recent decades, Portuguese scholars have studied the past from new perspectives, no longer haunted by echoes of melancholy or nationalistic motives. Although it is clear that the Portuguese primarily imported works of art from the Low Countries during the heyday of its empire, an overview is missing of how Portugal and the Low Countries became entangled, how the artistic exchange was structured and how it suddenly disappeared.

In recent years, however, a new interest has arisen in Netherlandish export art and the phenomena of travelling artists in the early modern period. The Netherlands Institute for Art History’s research project Gerson Digital, for example, focuses on the cultural exchange between the Netherlands and other countries. This thesis will examine that relatively

understood field of research but focuses on yet unexplored territory: fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Netherlandish art and artists in Portugal. Netherlandish art (or artworks from the Low

Countries), in this thesis, refers to art or artists from the Burgundian or Habsburg

Netherlands, which today comprises roughly modern-day the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The artists themselves, often described in contemporary reports as ‘Flemings’ or ‘from Holland’, are referred to as Netherlanders in this study.

Netherlandish arts in Portugal wore mentioned fragmentarily in Dutch, French and English literature. The first well-documented traveller from the Low Countries to Portugal, Jan van Eyck, and his trip to Portugal, has been discussed regularly, for instance in Leo van

Puyvelde’s De reis van Jan van Eyck naar Portugal (1940) and Barbara von Barghahn’s Jan

van Eyck and Portugal’s ‘Illustrious Generation’ (2013). Moreover, some studies were made

on seventeenth century painters from the Low Countries visiting Portugal. Horst Gerson, after whom the Gerson Digital project is named, has also devoted some passages to the

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des 17. Jahrhunderts (1983), but did not provide sufficient background information or

insights into how the artistic exchange between the Low Countries and Portugal was forged. The main benchmarks for my thesis have been written in Portuguese. Primitivos Portugueses (2011) for instance, explains well what cross-pollination took place in Portugal between artists of different nationalities, including Netherlanders, in Portugal during the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The Portuguese authors José de Figueiredo, Arte Portuguesa Primitiva (1910), Reynaldo dos Santos, História da arte em Portugal (1922), and more recently, Dalila Rodrigues, Grão Vasco e a Pintura Europeia do Renascimento (1992), have written the building blocks from where I started. Yet a study, that is, solely concerned with the topic of artistic exchange between the Low Countries and Portugal for over a longer period of time, from its rise to its fall, is missing. This study will be making a start for a further exploring of this topic.

The first chapter introduces Portugal and how its success catalysed the exchange between the Low Countries and Portugal. Chapter 2 focuses on the by-then already highly praised

Netherlandish arts. The Low Countries simultaneously hosted the most competitive and bulky art market; it is on the Netherlandish market that the Portuguese interest in Netherlandish art was sparked. This chapter focuses on the fifteenth-century Netherlandish painters, who played a decisive role as influencers well into the sixteenth century, and particularly were followed and copied by Netherlandish artists active on Portuguese soil far into the sixteenth century. The third chapter demonstrates why the Netherlandish art market and its products were irresistible to the Portuguese, which works of art were exported and why they fit the

ambitious Portuguese so well. Chapter 4 solely focuses on traveling Netherlandish artists and what they made in Portugal – a topic that has been discussed little but that has had an

indelible impact.

In order to come to this thesis, I had the privilege to work in 2016-2017 and in the spring of 2018 at the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA) in Lisbon. While studying there, I have been helped by the professionals at this museum, and in particular I want to thank the former curator of painting, and now director of the museum, Dr. Joaquim Caetano, and the librarian of the MNAA, Luís Montalvão, for their advice.

During my research I was able to study at several Portuguese museums, churches and collections. I travelled to numerous Portuguese places and I came across various yet

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undocumented works of art from the Low Countries, which are also included in my thesis. In addition, I have conducted archival research in the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal. Finally I would like to thank Dr. Elmer Kolfin of the University of Amsterdam for his invaluable help in completing this thesis.

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1 Portugal and the Low Countries entangled

Four hundred ships belonging to the fleet of King Afonso V disembarked from Portugal’s southern harbour of Lagos in the summer of 1471. They sought to conquer Morocco’s strategic cities of Asilah and Tangier – which they managed to do by August that year. Portuguese noblemen were immediately appointed as governors of the conquered territories, and the cities fortifications were greatly improved.1

To celebrate his victories, Afonso V commissioned four large tapestries in Tournai showing the highlights of the African campaign, the Pastrana tapestries (fig.1).2_{The heraldic symbols}

of the Portuguese nobility are displayed in detail on the tapestries. The tapestries’ portrayal of the city’s architecture, however, is clearly not African or Portuguese; its skyline is typical of a late medieval Northern European city. The church, its fortifications and roof constructions are Netherlandish. Similar flowers and greenery, dense composition and high horizontal lines can be found on other tapestries from Tournai, Flanders, dating from the same period.3_The

information concerning the heraldic displays and the latest weaponry, however, must have been provided by Portuguese officials.

The tapestries tell us about the Portuguese ambitions to further explore and conquer. It is a piece of living history that commemorates the legacy of the Portuguese conquests in Northern Africa. The Pastrana tapestries therefore are a set of political propaganda pieces to impress, to show Afonso’s victories to the world.

The Pastrana tapestries are the first known major commission for Netherlandish artists by a Portuguese patron. Afonso’s representatives came to the Low Countries for several reasons.

1

Black, The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas, 18.

2 Elbl, Portuguese Tangier, 97-8.

3 The Pastrana tapestries are generally attributed to the workshop of Pasquier Grenier of

Tournai, The Deeds of Alexander (Rome, Galleria Doria Pamphilj) and The War of Troy (London, Victoria and Albert Museum), for example, from Grenier’s workshop, are very similar, see: Rolland, ‘‘Le Tapissieur Pasquier Grenier,’’ 203-21.

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By doing so, the Portuguese were following other European courts. Flemish tapestries were extremely fashionable, and the Pastrana tapestries undoubtedly meant to elevate Afonso’s palace.4_{Moreover, only Netherlandish workshops had the capacity to produce such}

large-scale commissions. The workshops had a significant advantage over the smaller-sized Italian factories, which did not have the resources to compete with their northern counterparts.5

From the twelfth century onwards Portugal and the Low Countries maintained a commercial relationship, that continued throughout the ages.6_{As tapestries were also regarded as trading}

goods, it is understandable that the Portuguese held on to their traditional partner. Thereby, tapestries could easily be transported by cargo ships already bound from the Low Countries to Portugal.7

fig. 1: detail of The conquer of Tangier. Pasquier Grenier, Pastrana tapestries, 1471. 4 x 11 m. Pastrana, Museu da Colegiada.

4 Similar commissions are known from the courts of the Burgundian Netherlands, France and

England, see: Delmarcel, Het Vlaamse Wandtapijt.

5 Campbell, ‘‘European Tapestry Production and Patronage,’’ 6 Diffie, Prelude to Empire, 25.

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1.1 Portugal’s rise

In 1475, shortly after the Moroccan conquest, Afonso V invaded modern-day Spain to interfere in the War of the Castilian Succession. Fifteen days into the campaign, he married Joanna la Beltraneja, who was in fierce competition for the Castilian crown with Isabella I of Castile. At the Battle of Toro, the armies of Portugal joined forces with Beltranja’s supporters and fought the Castilians of Isabella I. Although both sides claimed victory, the battle ended with an inconclusive victor.

Treaty of Alcáçovas: Blessing in disguise

Afonso V realised he needed support to prevail and departed for France in search for help. King Louis XI agreed to meet him in Tours but ultimately refused any commitments to Portugal. During the negotiations, Afonso V did not return home to Lisbon. He waited in France with his entourage while most of his army remained in Northern Spain. Finally, in 1479, the Treaty of Alcáçovas was signed; Afonso and Joanna agreed to relinquish their claim on the Castilian crown. In return, Afonso received the exclusive right to the conquest of Morocco and, more importantly, exclusivity in navigating and engaging in commerce on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean (except for the Canary Islands).8_{The campaign and maintenance}

of Afonso’s household and military abroad, however, nearly bankrupted Portugal.9

Five years before the Treaty of Alcáçovas, Prince João II was installed by his father Afonso V as head of the African trade. Other merchant parties who would violate the rules of his

enterprise would be ‘confronted with severe punishments’.10_{A German diplomat stationed in}

Lisbon writes in the early 1490s that João II controlled everything imported and exported – private parties were left to trade in ‘parrots, monkeys and straw mats’.11

Before João II was entrusted with the African trade, the Portuguese economy relied mostly on licences and customs. Wealthy merchants, such as Fernão Gomes, who had enjoyed a full monopoly on the trade on Cape Verde and the coast of Guinee and who had only paid taxes and a yearly determined fixed sum to the Crown, now lost their positions as intermediaries.12

8 Encarnação, A Batalha de Toro, 123-5. 9 Ferreira, ‘‘The Cost of Majesty,’’ 210-32. 10 Marques, Descobrimentos, 153-4.

11 Brásio, Monumenta Missionaria Áfricana, 244-5. 12 Elbl, ‘‘The King’s Business in Africa,’’ 96-7.

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Instead of expanding Portugal’s borders, the Treaty of Alcáçovas gave the Portuguese kings carte blanche to expand their maritime power.

Portugal eventually explored Africa, India and the New World. Lisbon became Europe’s first global metropole. An anonymous painting, most likely from a Netherlandish painter from the second half of the sixteenth century, shows a city scene in Lisbon around the Chafariz d'el Rey (fig. 2). It portrays a busy day at the shores of the Tagus river, depicting people from all over the known world, including Africans. Some of them are slaves, and others wear

Portuguese clothes. In the foreground, one of them is even depicted as a knight.

fig. 2: anonymous Netherlandish master, Chafariz d’el Rey, c. 1570. Oil on panel, 93 x 163 cm. Lisbon: Berardo Collection.

After his initial successes, João II pursued further explorations. Late fifteenth-century maps show that the Portuguese merchant fleet explored the African coast, undoubtedly the result of exchange between Portugal and its foreign contacts.13_{As a result, the Portuguese immediately}

started to commission art overseas. Ivory hunting horns, salt cellars and spoons originating from modern-day Sierra Leone found their way to the European market. These objects were carved by African artists, but surprisingly, many of the known pieces show Christian

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iconographies.14_{Their buyers most likely took great pride in the African campaigns; rather}

than being solely religious artefacts, these objects also symbolise the country’s successes abroad.

Portuguese explorers eventually constructed a trade network to the Far East, and their Indian headquarters were founded in 1510. Afterward, a direct relationship with China was

established. As a result, the Portuguese could provide luxury goods, such as silk and porcelain, to the European markets.15_{On the way back to Lisbon, seafarers also visited the}

rich coasts of East Africa, collecting predominantly gold.16

Portugal was a regional power in the beginning of the fifteenth century and exported goods such as oil, wines and salt to Northern Europe, competing with other Mediterranean countries and states.17_{At the turn of the century, the Portuguese outflanked their competitors and had}

exclusive access to all kinds of exotic goods that were new to Europe, including works of art. Direct contact with the Arabic world also introduced the Portuguese to useful maritime developments and mathematical knowledge, resulting in a fleet capable of navigating the open seas.

The Portuguese operated as a catalyst in the exchange between three continents, thus laying further groundwork for the eventual thriving artistic exchange between the Low Countries and Portugal. Their exotic goods were new to the markets, particularly those of Northern Europe. The Portuguese by this point were foremostly interested in a market where they could meet the traders from these areas, have access to a wide variety of potential buyers and sell large batches. The Portuguese began to focus their trade on the Low Countries. Since the High Middle Ages, the most prosperous counties, Flanders and Brabant, had hosted annual fairs attracting merchants from across the continent. The Portuguese knew that they could on the interest of the many nations represented here.

The Portuguese had traditionally organised their northern trade into two institutions: the Bolsa, a voluntary association of merchants protected by the Crown, and the merchant nation, a collaboration of seafarers from the same geographical area in Portugal. Such institutions

14 Costa-Gomes, ‘‘In and Out of Africa,’’ 167-87.

15 Canepa, Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer, 24-37, 52-67; Chapter 3: Keeping up with the Burgundians.

16 Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe, 123. 17 Childs, Trade and Shipping, 97.

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were common for long-distance shipping, and Netherlandish and English merchants formed similar partnerships.18_{At first, Portuguese rulers did not pursue trading directly under their}

banner (like the abovementioned case of Fernão Gomes); instead, the Portuguese king

provided licenses and relied on his taxes. The merchant nation could operate independently if it obeyed the Crown’s rules. In the course of the fifteenth century, after the African and Asian trade began to flourish and after the possibilities of a booming northern market presented themselves, the King’s officials began to show more interest in trading directly.

In the course of the fifteenth century, Portugal had developed from a regional to a dominant power in its global commercial network. The Portuguese were driven by commercial interests, but also by an desire for the unknown, which manifested itself in the bringing together and mixing of all kinds of artistic expressions. As a result of the construction of this network, it became necessary to find a market for their newly acquired products. As the markets, particularly those in Flanders and Brabant, developed rapidly and as the Portuguese were already well represented, the two regions began to invest in a sustainable partnership.

1.2 From Bruges to Antwerp

Favourable terms and a safe and divers market, lured merchants from across the continent to the Bruges seaport. From the fourteenth century onwards, the Flemish city blossomed, leading to unprecedented economic development. The Portuguese and their goods were welcomed there with open arms and so became a chain in the Burgundian-Netherlandish trade network. Thus, the foundation was laid for large-scale exchange.

Bruges provided logistics such as housing and advantageous toll reductions to foreign long-distance shippers.19_{Moreover, merchants were given access to commercial institutions which}

greatly reduced the costs of their operation: those who frequently visited certain inns in the city paid less,20_{banks and local money-changers allowed foreigners to transfer money cheaply}

and safely to foreign institutions21_{and Bruges developed a court system that enabled disputes}

to be settled with limited enforcements costs.22 18 Carus-Wilson, Medieval Merchant Venturers.

19 Brown and Dumolyn, Medieval Bruges; Rößner, Hansische Memoria in Flandern. 20 Murray, ‘‘Nodes and Networks,’’ 1-14.

21 Murray, Bruges, Cradle of Capitalism; Van Houtte, ‘‘Les foires,’’ 202-3.

22 Dumolyn and Lambert, ‘‘Cities of Commerce,’’ 90–5; Lambert, ‘‘Merchants on the

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The first Southern European merchants, particularly from Venice and Genoa, started to find their way to the Bruges market in the thirteenth century. Tuscan bankers followed, starting at the end of the fourteenth century. Although the Italians at first had favoured land and river routes between the Alps and the North Sea, political instability in the region from the end of the thirteenth century made transportation over land increasingly unsafe and expensive, eventually making it more profitable to sail around the Iberian Peninsula to Bruges.23

More Southern European enterprises began to follow the Italian example, and the Spanish enterprises became particularly active in Bruges.24_{As a result, the city’s port and the}

commercial and financial districts further developed to receive long-distance shipping. The primary concern of the Bruges commercial elite and its government was to facilitate and host the exchange, and Bruges reached its commercial peak roughly between 1380 and 1480. The Bruges market was at the centre of international trade. Merchants in the thousands were attracted by the promising perspective of the wide-ranging and exotic market.

In 1430 the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good, married Princess Isabella of Portugal in Bruges. The alliance between the two courts was prompted by a mutual understanding

whereby each of them could benefit from the other: the Portuguese wanted to be connected to the strongest power in the region, and the Burgundians saw the possibilities of the developing Portuguese trade network.

A small Portuguese community thereby was established in Bruges.25_{Most of that community}

can be assumed to have only visited the Low Countries from Portugal for short stays. The primary goal of the Portuguese community in Bruges was at first to find buyers for their wine, olive oil, fruits and salt. In so doing, they competed with other southern traders. In the course of the fifteenth century, they added sugar, ivory and spices to the market. Moreover, the Portuguese merchants also began to collect goods to re-export to Africa primarily weaponry, furs and silks. 26

23 Van Houtte, De Geschiedenis van Brugge; Bigwood, Le regime, 56-9.

24 Brown, ‘‘Cities, nations and divine service,’’ 166-87; Verlinden, ‘‘The Rise of Spanish

Trade in the Middle Ages,’’ 56-8.

25 Between 1451 and 1470 about 25 permanently settled merchants operated from the city,

between 1481 and 1490 there were only 20, see: Marques, Hansa e Portugal; Miranda ‘‘Commerce, conflicts et justice,’’ 1-14.

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In time, the Portuguese community must have become more and more acquainted to the habits and customs of their Netherlandish partners. From the environment around princes Isabella, married to Phillip the Good, the first luxury goods were shipped to Portugal.27_We

can assume that the Portuguese community did have some knowledge at this stage of the artistic climate in the Low Countries, or they knew who to turn to in their commercial network in order to gain access to Netherlandish artistic products.

The exchange of goods, services and trade was the natural result of the mutual interest of the three parties involved: the Portuguese, the Burgundians and the city of Bruges. The

Portuguese presence in Bruges was completely focused on trade. With regard to the

Netherlandish-Portuguese network, everything that followed from the interaction between the two regions at the Bruges market was the result of commercial affairs in the first half of the fifteenth century.

Antwerp’s promise

The young Duke of Burgundy and son of Isabella of Portugal, Charles the Bold, was killed in battle in 1477. The Burgundian drive for expansion, along with its vast and constantly

disputed borders, had taken its toll. With no male heirs, Mary of Burgundy, the only child of Charles the Bold, had no other option than to marry the future Holy Roman Emperor,

Maximilian, who became a co-ruler with her over the Netherlands.28_{Bruges immediately}

opposed Maximilian’s rule out of fear of being centralised into the vast Habsburg Empire. Accompanied by other parties, including the Flemish city of Ghent, a rebellion against Maximilian was initiated. As Brabant, including its mercantile port Antwerp, refused to join that rebellion, the cities of Bruges and Ghent attempted by force to block Antwerp’s access to the sea.29

Bruges caused a major geopolitical conflict in the region. In 1488 the armies of the Habsburg Empire invaded Flanders. An English fleet and Antwerpian mercenary army, undoubtedly driven by resentment after the Flemish attempt to block off its commercial traffic, blocked all of Bruges’ trading routes, with devastating consequences for the city’s economy.30_{After the} 27 See chapter 3.

28 Stein, Magnanimous Dukes and Rising States; Prevenier and Blockmans, The Burgundian

Netherlands.

29 Prims, Geschiedenis van Antwerpen 16, 42. 30 Haemers, De strijd.

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Habsburgian forces seized power, the foreign merchants in Bruges were banished to Antwerp.31_{Although peace was signed in 1489, Bruges’ attempts to convince its former}

partners to return were largely ignored.32

Bruges had been the most prominent commercial centre of the Low Countries from the Late Middle Ages through the crises of the 1480s. Antwerp now took over this role. In addition, former opponents of Bruges were also welcomed in Antwerp.33_{Central European and}

southern German merchants simultaneously started to become more prominent in the Netherlandish market, as technical mining innovations in the German hinterland had

simplified the extraction of silver and copper. Thus, Antwerp now also became the centre of the international metal trade.34

As the first Portuguese expeditions to the far coasts of Africa and Asia had proven that overseas civilizations found silver and copper to be highly valuable,35_{Antwerp became of}

vital economic importance for the Portuguese crown. The Portuguese merchant fleet now focused completely on Antwerp. Thus, Portugal become one of the major parties of the Antwerp market, and exotic goods from Africa and Asia were exchanged here for the German metals.

Antwerp by now not only had promised the Portuguese similar privileges to those they had received in Bruges but had also bought a house at the Kipdorp for the Portuguese merchant community, where the factor36_{could live}._.37_{Additionally, the factor, his family and the}

consuls received the privilege of exporting wine and beer free of excise.38_{The Portuguese}

Crown also demanded a well operating network with the copper merchants, who primarily were interest in Portuguese pepper. The Portuguese needed to ensure a solid stream of shipments to the Antwerp market. The Portuguese launched a series of offensives in Asia between 1510 and 1515 with the objective of controlling key positions in the continent’s

31 Schafer and Techen, Hanserecesse, 524; Van Houtte, ‘‘The Rise and Decline,’’ 44. 32 Ibid., 46; Maréchal, ‘‘Le départ,’’ 34-7.

33 Bruges’ local cloth industry had obtained an embargo on English cloth from Philip the

Good. In Antwerp, the English were welcomed, see: Vaughan, Philip the Good, 255.

34 Van der Wee, The Growth, 119-42. 35 Brulez ‘‘Bruges and Antwerp,’’ 1-26.

36 National or regional merchant collectives were governed by a factor. The factor was

responsible of managing trade and operated as senior intermediary on behalf of his homeland superior.

37 Pohl, Die Portugiesen in Antwerpen, 23; Braamcamp, Noticias da feitoria, 170. 38 Brulez ‘‘Bruges and Antwerp,’’ 1-26.

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pepper trade. The sultanates of Egypt, Goa, Malacca and the islands of Sokotora and Hurmuz were forced to obey Portuguese rule during these five years.39_{The conquest simultaneously}

wiped out the Arabian-Venetian pepper trade. The Portuguese not only destroyed their competitors’ network; they also established a full monopoly on pepper in Asia.40

It was no longer necessary to distribute or stopover in Lisbon; ships bound from Asia back to Europe, came directly to Antwerp. The Portuguese-Netherlandish network by now had reached its peak; its successful infrastructure and monopoly resulted in incredible riches between 1510 and 1520. In return, they bought copper and silver, as well some weapons and luxury goods.41_{Because the proper functioning of the economic network was of vital}

importance, the Portuguese court dispatched their most experienced operators to Antwerp. Diplomats, intellectuals and other high standing figures were also sent from time to time to the factory.

The factory in Antwerp

Due to the success of the spice trade, the Portuguese share on Antwerp’s market drastically increased. At the Kipdorp, the Portuguese factory, which had been established in 1508, became the commercial and diplomatic nerve centre of the Portuguese activities in the Low Countries. Although Portugal was one of the most prominent parties in Antwerp’s market, the presence of Portuguese staff was relatively small.42_{It seems that no more than two dozen}

merchants were permanently established at the factory.

In 1504 the first key figure in the artistic exchange between the Low Countries and Portugal set foot in Antwerp. João Brandão arrived as a merchant in service of the Portuguese nation, and must have made a career quickly. From 1509 to 1514 and from 1520 to 1526, he served two terms as the factor in Antwerp.43_{Brandão eventually became the most important}

Portuguese official in the Low Countries for at least two decades. Under his leadership the larger part of the Netherlandish works of art was shipped to Portugal.

39 Van der Wee, The Growth, 129-30. 40 Lane, ‘‘Venetian Shipping,’’ 228-9.

41 Marques, Descobrimentos, 427-34; Marques, História da feitoria, 259, 464, 467.

42 Antwerp’s registers show that in the years 1488 and 1490, after the Portuguese officially

had left Bruges, 1,227 German merchants were counted in Antwerp, 261 Italians, 247 French, 171 Spaniards, 151 English and only 72 Portuguese, see: Doehaerd, Etudes anversoises, 582-6.

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Brandão’s core business was Portugal’s spice trade. Soon, though, he also began to operate as an intermediary between the Portuguese royal family and the Netherlandish suppliers of luxury goods. In the first year of his appointment as factor, Brandão made his first

documented commission; for the Convento da Madre de Deus in Xabregas, in name of Queen Leonor, he commissioned master painter Quinten Massijs (fig. 3).44_{It seems, however, that}

Brandão was already involved in setting up his artistic network between Portugal and the Low Countries in the first year of his arrival, in 1504. That year, two painters documented under the names Eduwart Portugalois and Symon Portugaloys entered the renowned workshops of Massijs and one other painter, Goswin van der Weyden. The two clearly came to learn from those masters, as they were registered as their students (leerjonghe).45

Massijs would receive a number of commissions via Brandão.46_{Goswin van der Weyden,}

who also educated at least one, but possibly two Portuguese painters,47_{received one}

commission in 1506 for the Mosteiro da Madre de Deus, painting the Presentation of Jesus at

the Temple Triptych (fig. 4) as a result. Brandão is mentioned more than once in the

environment of well-known artists. A couple of years later, he was named a few times in the diary of the by-then already well-known painter Albrecht Dürer, who travelled the

Netherlands with his wife in the years 1520-21. Brandão even housed Dürer during his travel, and they also exchanged numerous gifts, which were comprehensively described by the great master in his diary.48_{In Antwerp, Dürer created the famous portrait of Katharina (fig. 5), the}

20-year-old servant of Brandão. Rui Fernandes de Almada, the factor’s secretary and Brandão’s predecessor in 1529, received the Saint Jerome (fig. 6) from his hand.49

44 The convent was personally funded by Queen Leonor. A polyptych depicting the Seven

Sorrows of the Virgin was commissioned at Massijs’s workshop, via Brandão. The original

seven scenes of Mary’s grief are now scattered. The central scene, the Mater Dolorosa (inv. 1275) is held in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga (MNAA). Quinten Massijs worked on the polyptych between 1509 and 1511, it was installed before 1513 in Xabregas, see: Silver,

Quinten Massys, 55.

45 Rombouts and Van Lerius, De Liggeren. 46 See Chapter 3.

47 Antwerp’s guild also mentions a student named Allonse Craso in Goswin van der

Weyden’s workshop. It is possible Allonse was also Portuguese: De Liggeren, 100: ‘Allonse Craso oeck gheleert by Goesen vander Weyen.’

48 Verachter, Albrecht Dürer in de Nederlanden, 43.

49 ‘Ich hab ein Hieronymus mit Fleiß gemahlt von ollfarben und geschenckt dem Ruderigo

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fig. 4: Goswin van der Weyden, Presentation of Jesus at the Temple Triptych, 1506. Oil on panel, 77 x 33 cm / 118 x 77 cm. Lisbon, MNAA.

fig 5: Albrecht Dürer, Katharina, 1521.Silverpoint on paper, 20 x 14 cm. Florence, Uffizi.

fig. 6: Albrecht Dürer, Saintt Jerome in his

Study, 1521. Oil on panel, 60 x 48 cm. Lisbon,

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Brandão could be expected to contact local artists. As previously described, Lisbon by now had built up a tradition in the exchange of works of art wherever the Portuguese fleet was active. Nevertheless, it is striking that, where the previous factors are only mentioned in financial circles, Brandão not only sought contact with artists, but even facilitated their work and exchanged gifts with them. He certainly was interested on some level in Antwerp’s artistic life.

During Brandão’s second term, the second-key figure arrived. Damião de Góis was appointed in 1523 as the new secretary of the Portuguese factory. As a trustee of the royal family, he was sent to Antwerp as a diplomat, to carry out negotiations when necessary on the king’s behalf. De Góis, however, would become Portugal’s most influential humanist of the sixteenth century. Like Brandão, he was intrigued by the art of the Low Countries. De Góis also became the greatest collector of Hieronymus Bosch. This might explain how Lisbon’s celebrated The Temptations of Saint Anthony (fig. 7) came to Portugal (although evidence for this assumption is missing).50_{He certainly had Christ Crowned with Thorns (fig.}

8) for some time in his possession. For which he later would state before the Inquisition, curious about his humanist activities, to have paid a great deal because of ‘the perfection, originality and invention of the work’.51

De Góis travelled intensely as a diplomat in the years he was stationed in Antwerp, also corresponding with many of the most important humanists, including Erasmus.52_{He also}

followed courses at the university of Leuven. In his diaries and from his publications, it is clear that de Góis was a cultured and studious man, who, just as Brandão had done, also operated as an collector of art on behalf of the Portuguese royal family.53

50 Caetano, ‘‘A Historical Survey,’’ 72-81.

51 Hirsh, Damião de Góis, 48: ‘Item Ihe dei mais hum painel em que esta pintado ha coroação

de nosso Senhor Jesu Christo peça que val muito dinheiro pella perfeiçam, nivodade e invençam da obra feita por hieronimo bosque.’

52 Hirsch, The life and thought.

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Brandão and de Góis, the two key-figures stationed in Antwerp, were the most influential members of the Portuguese community in the Low Countries. Together, roughly between

1500 and 1530, they were in charge of all Portuguese operations in the Low Countries, including the exchange of luxury goods and ordering and purchasing works of art on behalf of the Portuguese royals. Although documentation is scarce, these men must have played a decisive role as agents between Netherlandish artists and Portuguese clients.

fig. 7: Hieronymus Bosch, The Temptations of Saint Anthony, c. 1501. Oil on panel, 131,5 x 53 cm / 131,5 x 119 cm. Lisbon, MNAA.

fig. 8: Hieronymus Bosch, Christ

Crowned with Thorns, 1495-1500. Oil on

panel, 73 x 59 cm. London, National Gallery.

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Conclusion

Driven by ambition and a new drive for expansion, the Portuguese established themselves in African and Asian trade networks over the course of the fifteenth century, thereby connecting and catalysing a decisive link between three continents. From this moment on, new foreign inventions and largely unknown trading goods brought unprecedented riches to the

Portuguese merchant fleet.

Bruges, and later Antwerp, both were more than willing to receive long-distance shippers. Merchants from Southern and Northern Europe were connected there, the largest markets of Northwest Europe. The Portuguese and Netherlandish rulers both saw each other’s potential and began to invest in a establishing a sustainable network. High-profile merchants and diplomats were stationed, a royal marriage was agreed upon and a merchants headquarters, the factory, was opened in Antwerp – all in order to improve their commercial relationship. As a result, the Portuguese not only brought goods to the Netherlandish markets; they also connected on their terms with Netherlandish luxury goods. Thus, the foundations were laid for artistic exchange as well between the Low Countries and Portugal.

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2 Virtuosity & competition: the

Netherlandish art market

Netherlandish painting and sculpture was internationally appreciated. The Portuguese, who had already built a tradition with regard to artistic exchange, were confronted with quality and quantity in the Netherlandish market. Its urban centres gave shape to an artistic revolution that, thanks to the presence of its international audience, led to an unprecedented continental artistic exchange. Firstly, the arts of the Netherlands are introduced below, including why they were revolutionary at the time. The Netherlandish art market is discussed in the second part of this chapter. The term market here includes the complete domain in which paintings, sculptures and other works of art are offered to potential buyers.

2.1 A new virtuosity

The urban centres of the Low Countries traditionally were home to accomplished manuscript illuminators by the end of the 1400s. These workshops not only worked for monasteries or other religious institutions but also were frequently commissioned by members of the

Netherlandish nobility. Thanks to economic developments, the Burgundian court, nobles and the urban elite had more to spend. Simultaneously, in the first decades of the fifteenth century, a new interest arose for larger compositions. As a result, manuscript illuminators and artisans, who mainly began to focus on panel painting, initiated the development towards a more naturalistic approach.

The rise of Early Netherlandish painting is usually explained on the basis of a handful of iconic artists. Most certainly, Jan van Eyck, the most celebrated Early Netherlandish artist in his century, set the tone after his arrival in Bruges from The Hague in 1425, the year he

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entered the service of Philip the Good.54_{His employment at the court of the Duke of}

Burgundy secured him high social standing. Van Eyck developed a detailed naturalistic style that would come to dominate Netherlandish painting for at least the coming decades. The characteristic naturalism of his themes and figures gave him great popularity. In the 1430s he produced various portraits for clergy, court officials and foreigners, some of whom were of Bruges’ upper classes. Moreover, Van Eyck set a precedent for Netherlandish artists by becoming a known name abroad; ‘What gift did Alfonso keep with such pleasure as a

painting by Jan van Eyck?’ wrote a minister to Alfonso, King of Naples, in the 1490s, where Jan van Eyck was documented as ‘the great painter of the illustrious Duke of Burgundy’.55

Van Eyck’s importance cannot only be explained by the fact that he became a known name across the continent in the fifteenth century. Instead, his technique, well balanced

compositions and style found direct imitation. Netherlandish artists looked at each other and learned from each other in order to develop a better product in the ongoing artistic revolution hosted by the Low Countries. Others began to imitate the styles that were the most successful, following particularly Van Eyck.

Van Eyck’s work advanced Netherlandish virtuosity by creating exemplars that future artists could follow. Between 1434 and 1436 Jan van Eyck completed the Virgin and Child with

Canon van der Paele (fig. 9). This iconic work shows the Virgin and Child enthroned,

accompanied by Saint Donation, Saint George and the donor Joris van der Paele. The work is positioned in the well balanced interior of a church. This panel powerfully represents Van Eyck’s virtuosity. His naturalism, the exquisite details, the brightly coloured fabrics and his ability to create real characters were revolutionary in the Low Countries and Europe. Van Eyck here clearly also experiments with his composition, in order to find the most suitable position of his figures on the panel within the church’s architecture. Not only did Van Eyck’s technique inspire generations of artists, the well balanced order in his compositions -

displayed on Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, showing the Virgin and Child positioned in the centre of the paintings’ architecture – would from then on be included as the basis for religious painting.

54 19 May 1425 Jan van Eyck was appointed ‘peintre et varlet de chambre’, see: Weale,

Hubert and John van Eyck, doc. nr. 6.

55 Canfield, ‘‘The Reception of Flemish Art,’’ 35-42; Nuttall, From Flanders to Florence,

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fig. 9: Jan van Eyck, Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele, 1434-36. Oil on panel, 122 x 157 cm. Bruges, Groeningemuseum.

The next generation of masters relied on Van Eyck’s work, thus advancing the Netherlandish artists’ revolutionary naturalistic approach. Hans Memling, originally from Germany, had purchased citizenship and membership into the Bruges painters’ guild in 146556_{and was}

talented in capturing the likenesses of his subjects. The dark background that projects the pale faces of his clientele (a seemingly simple formula) unmistakably derives from Van Eyck – which made Memling especially popular among Florentine bankers.57_{The Portrait of Maria} Portinari (fig. 10), for instance, shows the effectiveness of his methods. Maria’s face thereby

seems somewhat idealised, with her hair being shave back to achieve a high forehead. Maria certainly fits in with the contemporary ideals of beauty in the Low Countries,58_Memling

knew well what was demanded of him by the rich elite.

56 Brugse Poortersboeken 1454-1478, fol. 72v: ‘Jan van Mimnelinghe, Harmans

Zuene, ghebooren Zeleghenstadt, poortre 30.’

57 Florentine bankers accounted for about twenty percent of the master’s entire known

business, see; Martens, ‘‘Hans Memling and his Patrons,’’ 35-42.

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Memling’s expressions, the sharp characterful depictions of faces and the use of angularity in his figures also clearly betray the influence of Rogier van der Weyden in his painting.

Memling’s Mocking of Christ (fig. 11) - a theme very well suited for rough emotions, as a jeer crowd confronts Christ - provides the perfect opportunity to add a new invention to Van Eyck’s realism.

Rogier van der Weyden was one of the most prominent and celebrated northern masters of his century. He added emotion to painting – expressions such as raw grief - which greatly

influenced Netherlandish painting. For example, The Crucifixion Diptych (fig. 12), which depicts the suffering of the Virgin, who is supported by Saint John the Evangelist on the left, gave a whole new program to religious painting. This resulted in a high demand for paintings in his manner in Germany, Spain and Italy.59

Fig. 10: Hans Memling, Portrait of Maria Portinari, 1470-1472. Tempera and oil on panel, 44 x 34 cm. New York, the Met.

59 Till-Holger, Van Eyck tot Dürer; Campbell, Rogier van der Weyden; Nuttall and Hess,

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fig. 11: Hans Memling, Mocking of Christ, c. 1470. Oil on panel, 20,3 x 58,4 cm. Edinburgh, Scottish National Gallery.

fig. 12: Rogier van der Weyden, The

Crucifixion Diptych, c. 1460. Oil on panel, 180,3 x 92,6 cm, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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However, the generation of Brugian master painters following Van Eyck, like Memling, did not just provide an appealing synthesis of the most famous Netherlandish examples. Instead, they continued to develop Van Eyck’s naturalism. Thus playing a crucial role in advancing the craft of Netherlandish painting. For example, Memling’s use of extensive landscape backgrounds for his religious and profane themes were revolutionary at the time. This generation mingled the inventions of Van Eyck and Van der Weyden with their own - a continuous path towards naturalism. Memling’s interest in the design and detail of the

landscape, for instance, is also present in the work of Dirk Bouts, a painter who worked from Leuven and who also excelled in designing richly coloured backgrounds.

Bouts also produced portraits and small devotional panels in his Leuven workshop,

particularly depictions of the Virgin and Child. His work was often copied by members of his workshop or by later followers. Moreover, it has been established his two sons, Dirk the Younger and Albrecht, also painted in the manner of their father for years after he had

passed.60_{Such practices seem to have been fairly common.}61_{Because their father’s manner of}

painting did well on the market, they continued to create work accordingly. Bouts’

spirituality, as well as a sense for theatricality, is displayed in his Resurrection (fig. 13). The canvas boldly communicates with its beholder. In the course of the fifteenth century, a new form of private devotion had surfaced, creating a demand for paintings with themes that were easy to understand and confronting.62_{Greater emphasis was placed on a more direct relation}

between the beholder and the depicted. Thus creating a new feeling of intimacy, often by using raw emotions to elicit empathy. Similar to Hieronymus Bosch’s The Crowning with

Thorns (fig. 8), Bouts’ Christ is not interested in the figures that surround Him. Instead, He

gazes at the viewer.

Bouts certainly inspired the young Gerard David, who held office in both Bruges and

Antwerp. David added a cooler, more serene palette to his compositions. He, however, should not only be praised for his balanced use of colour; he also added a remarkable, somewhat dreamlike serenity to his paintings. The Rest on the Flight into Egypt’s (fig. 14) composition, in the shape of a pyramidal motif, is a peaceful representation of an easy recognisable

narrative. This characteristic makes the small painting well suited for private devotional

60 Van den Brink, Blut und Tränen; Smeyers, Dirk Bouts.

61 For example, Hieronymus Bosch also left his successful workshop to his relatives who

continued to produce well after his death, see: Van Dijck, Op zoek naar, 13-41.

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purposes, allowing one to immediately empathize with the Virgin and her tender love for the Child.

The simple and (we may assume) highly demanded scene was repeated numerous times.63

Here, David’s artistic choices were influenced by the art market. Where Van Eyck and Van der Weyden had produced predominantly for the rich upper classes (both had worked on commissions, using costly materials and with prices being paid in advance), David and his workshop began to produce small, easily recognisable themes which could be sold to a large audience. As David saw the markets of his hometown Bruges and later Antwerp flooded with foreign merchants, he also began to produce on speculation, using cheaper materials and painting successful compositions more often.

fig. 13: Dirk Bouts, Resurrection, c. 1455. Oil on canvas, 89,9 x 74,3 cm. Pasadena, Norton Simon Museum. fig. 14: Gerard David, The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1510. Oil on panel, 41,9 x 42,2 cm. Washington, National Gallery of Art.

Netherlandish painting flourished to an enormous height in the course of the fifteenth century. The virtuosity of a number of brilliant minds was driven by fierce competition as well as the

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anticipation and expression that was demanded by increased demand for religious arts. This movement occurred not only in service of the Netherlandish elite, but it also was appreciated as far as Southern Europe. An unprecedented artistic revolution manifested itself in the urban centres of the Southern Netherlands. Due to its international popularity, a huge demand for Netherlandish painting arose – and painting ‘workshops began to adapt their production accordingly.

Netherlandish sculpture: Towards naturalism

Fifteenth-century builders and sculptors were still deeply rooted in medieval customs and traditions. Their workshops often consisted of family joint ventures, and the profession of builder or sculptor usually passed from father to son. The booming urban centres of the Low Countries, with their prospect of monumental commissions, attracted experienced and renowned workshops. Here, too, exchange and new possibilities led to unprecedented developments.

The family Keldermans from Mechelen for example, was well experienced in building large monumental building in the Late Middle Ages. The design, execution and delivery of building materials were all undertaken by the family enterprise. Their ready-made concept made them much sought after throughout the Low Countries and gave them a strong position in a highly competitive market. This made it possible for them to operate in a monopoly position for several generations.64

In the Southern Netherlands a number of families like the Keldermans were active, and these family joint ventures largely determined the manner and style in the fifteenth century. Their constructions primarily followed Gothic customs from the High Middle Ages. A preference for height, verticality and flying buttresses were key elements. In time, various forms and adaptions did emerge, primarily the result of the different building families developing their own traditions.

Likewise, those who made the sculptures for religious sites, must have worked according to similar formulas. Still, what should not be forgotten is the intimate nature of these objects. Sculptures were used for prayer, and a certain interaction between the depicted and the pious

64 Janse, Keldermans: een architectonisch netwerk; Squilbeck, ‘‘Notices sur les artistes,’’

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was found most important. In the Southern Netherlands, as described above, a new search for a more naturalistic style emerged in the fifteenth century. Sculptures, in turn, had to

communicate with the beholder. The earliest well documented master, Claus Sluter from Haarlem,65_{who took a position in sculpture similar to Van Eyck in painting, is traditionally}

quoted.

Sluter was active as Court Sculptor to Philip the Bold, working under his patronage in Brussels and Dijon, home to the palaces of the Burgundian Dukes.66_{The Tomb of Philip the} Bold (fig. 15), by Sluter and his companions shows a clear break from the conventional

Gothic style, and it found almost immediate imitation among the nobility in the Low Countries and in neighbouring countries, such as France

The concept and construction of the tomb follows medieval gothic traditions, which were performed everywhere across Western Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula. For example, the Tomb of Philip the Bold’s tracery and the use of mourners67_{are exemplary for Gothic}

tomb monuments. Revolutionary, however, is the expressiveness, realism and the emotion of the work – for instance, the clear grief visible in the bodies of the mourners (fig. 16).

Remarkably, Claus Sluter’s sculptures emotionally tended to be true to nature, a path predominantly taken by Van der Weyden in painting.

Small sculptures could change shape and style more easily and quickly than larger

monumental buildings. Where buildings were constructed by more traditional companies, which could rely on their monopolies, smaller sculptures strongly followed the latest fashions. With the attracting market, where competition was high, many began to follow the more popular naturalism. After Sluter, early Netherlandish sculptors definitively followed the path of a more naturalistic rendering, characterized by an urge towards a physical realism. In addition, this development is not only visible in the larger commissions for nobility and Church, but it also characterises the images for the international market, where sculptors began to entice the many foreign visitors.

65 Roggen, ‘‘Klaus Sluter,’’ 7-40.

66 Scholtens, ‘‘De Chartreuse bij Dijon,’’ 119-44; Nash, ‘‘Claus Sluter,’’ 798-809. 67 free-standing sculptures in mourning.

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fig. 15: Claus Sluter, Tomb of Philip the Bold, 1404. Alabaster, marble, gilt and oil paint, 243 cm high. Dijon, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon.

fig. 16: mourner of the Tomb

of Philip the Bold.

Smaller sculptures, primarily used to pray to and for private devotional purposes (like the paintings produced for the anonymous art market) were well suited to be produced in higher quantities. For this to happen, they had to be easily recognisable because it was believed that paintings and sculptures brought the depicted closer to the beholder. To perceive the Virgin and Child, for instance, was not only an event which took place in the corporeal physical world but also in the spiritual; contemplation could bring the two worlds together. Thus, Netherlandish artists knew they could count on the interest of potential buyers.

One of the most characteristic productions in the Netherlandish market took place in the Brabantian city of Mechelen. There was no question of the notable clientele in this city, and

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its craftsmen and artists produced on speculation for an international audience at an early stage. Their sculptures were relatively cheap and easy to produce, but they also had to meet certain requirements if they wanted to compete with other sculptors’ workshops.

According to what was fashionable in the mid-fifteenth century in the Low Countries, the Mechelen sculptures show blushing cheeks and a high forehead (fig. 17, 18, 19). Most of these sculptures are simple representations of easy recognisable figures, primarily of the Virgin and Child and the Child alone. In the Low Countries such small standardized

devotional sculptures were named Mechelse Poppetjes (‘Dolls from Mechelen’), and roughly from the 1450s onwards, they began to appear on the markets. In time, similar to the more expensive sculptures produced for the nobility, the creators of these smaller works began to humanise their subjects.68_{The draperies of the figures in many cases clearly show the letter}

M, representing Mechelen. In some cases we can also identify hallmark stamps of Mechelen.69

The sculptures in Mechelen were produced in huge quantities. In the first place, they had to be practical for use and export, as well as needing to be credible representations of the latest fashionable tastes. As competition was high, physical apperances also must have been important. This climate, in which developments were largely catalysed by competition, created a level of production and speciasalition that was unparalleled in Europe.

The Mechelse poppetjes, just like the paintings Gerard David’s workshop produced, clearly were produced on speculation, to sell as many possible. Artists began to adapt their

production to their international audience. In order to increase sale, they produced easily recognisable themes which were applicable in any religious, public or private context. Some works of art possessed a touch of virtuosity of the greatest Netherlandish artists, and the sculptors’ workshops always searched for the best product, ensuring also that their works were affordable due to the enormous competition that followed from the internation interest. The extent to which creativity was susceptible to the market becomes clear in the next chapter.

68

Berc, Sculptures; Vandamme, De Polychromie; Lipinska, Moving Sculptures, 96-123.

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fig. 17: Mechelen workshop, Virgin with Child, c. 1475. Polychromed wood, 38 x 16 cm. Lisbon, MNAA. fig. 18: Mechelen workshop, Saint Barbara, c. 1475. Polychromed wood, 37 x 14,5 cm. Lisbon, MNAA. fig. 19: Mechelen workshop, Virgin with Child, c. 1475. Polychromed wood, 36 x 12 cm. Aveiro, Museu de Aveiro.

2.2 From medieval patronage to an open market

The Netherlandish art market of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was characterized by various forms of supply and demand. When the first Portuguese merchants settled in Bruges, business between artists and clients was agreed upon on beforehand. After Bruges lost its position in favour to Antwerp, artists mainly began to produce on speculation. As a result, the sculptures and paintings offered on the Netherlandish art market more and more became products of mass production. Nevertheless, the previously introduced trademarks of the Netherlandish arts; predominantly its naturalistic approach, remained the highest goal.

Medieval patronage

During the High Middle Ages works of art were mainly produced on commission. Artists usually lived and worked in the immediate vicinity of places where one could expect

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commissions. Bruges was the most important artistic centre of the Low Countries. Here artists could expect commissions from the Burgundian court, from its city elite and from a growing interest of wealthy (foreign) merchants. Master painters and their clients worked on the basis of contracts, which they traditionally drew up beforehand and which included a description of the artwork. Sometimes, multiple masters worked together on one project.70_{Artists often}

received a large sum or the entire amount in advance, as the materials were expensive. In Bruges only members of the guilds could practice in their own name. The guilds’ main objective was to protect the social and economic interests of their members - for instance, by taking care of the sick, providing funerals71_{and actively working to keep the prices of}

materials down.72_{As a result, potential buyers could only choose from a limited number of}

artists. In this regard, the Bruges painters’ guild held a powerful position throughout the fifteenth century. For instance, it obtained an edict in 1441 from Philip the Good which limited the number of painters who were allowed to work in the neighbouring town and seaport Sluis, thereby eliminating the city guild’s competition.73_{The guild also prohibited the}

sale of uncommissioned art - works of art produced outside of the city and places where art could be exhibited were limited.74

The guild’s social security and the prospect of working for a rich international clientele must have been tempting. In order to enter the guild, it was first necessary to become a citizen of the city and then to purchase membership. Newcomers had to pay more, and members’ sons paid less.75_{Outsiders not only had to pay a higher price but also needed to prove they were}

skilled and educated enough to become a master painter (vrymeester).76_{For painters like Hans}

Memling, who had paid a significant sum of money to join the guild, it was a good

70 Campbell, ‘‘The Art Market,’’ 191-3.

71 Van Bueren, Care for the Here and the Hereafter, 13.

72 De Kerf, De Juiste Prijs; Brown, Civil Ceremony and Religion, 133-85.

73Gilliodts-Van Severen, Inventaire, 24; Lambert, ‘‘Merchants on the margins,’’ 1-19. 74 Martens, ‘‘Some aspects,’’ 19-20.

75 Sons of guild members payed 3 schellingen and 2 penningen, those who were trained in

Bruges had to pay 2 pond and 26 penningen, outsiders 3 pond and 26 penningen. These prices were out of sight for many, it has been established that for the builders’ guild, who used to same prices, a potential member from Bruges (who had to pay the 2 pond and 26 penningen), had to pay 180 day wages for his membership, outsiders (who had to pay 3 pond and 26 penningen) 244 day wages, see: de Kerf, De Juiste Prijs, 46-9.

76 Outsiders needed to hand over a ‘certificate of origin’ (‘een certifficacie vander plaetsen

danen hi es’) and a document that proved his education (‘dat hi goedt cnape es ende daertoe moet hi tambocht souffisantelike connen doen metter handt’), see: De Kerf, De Juiste Prijs, 46-9.

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investment. He was thus able to work for the most prominent clientele - for example the Italian bankers based in Bruges.

The Burgundian court, the most important patron, provided most of the work to artists in Bruges.77_{The system, however, only satisfied a limited number of artists, as not everyone}

received commissions from the traditional patronage. Not all artists could work under

permanent salaried employment like Jan van Eyck; many also pursued secondary occupations to make a living.78_{Artists who lived from commission to commission, in the meantime,}

naturally began to produce on speculation.

Annual fairs and art dealers

Despite their undeniable influence, the guilds could not exercise their power everywhere. The great exception to Bruges’ guild system was the annual fairs. At these events, which were organised in a number of Netherlandish cities,79_{all guild rules and privileges were suspended.}

Artists and craftsmen could sell all types of goods here, without prearrangements, to merchants who in most cases only visited the Low Countries on a short stay.

Those who could not match the guild’s expectations understandably began to produce for the annual fairs. As competition was high, it became beneficial to produce as quickly and cheaply as possible. In the course of the fifteenth century, besides the traditional commissions for the most renowned workshops, bulk goods were also produced on the Netherlandish market, primarily to persuade the foreign clientele.

From the fourteenth century onwards, the fairs of Bergen op Zoom and Antwerp, became the most appealing as an extra outlet for artists.80_{Both cities actively offered accommodations to}

foreign merchants, who could purchase ready-made productions, including hides, cloth and cheap works of art, without pre-arranged contracts.81_{Artists were able to produce at such fairs}

for a free and open market, selling their goods in most cases in the courtyards of the city’s

77

The Burgundian archives show that many artists worked in service of the Burgundians. The extracts of the Burgundian archives concerning art commissions can be found in: de Laborde, Les ducs de Bourgogne.

78 Campbell, ‘‘The Art Market,’’ 188-96. 79 Van Houtte, ‘‘Les foires,’’ 175-205. 80 Ibid., 189.

81 Slootmans, Paas- en Koudemarkten te Bergen op Zoom, 270-345; Kortlever ‘‘The Easter

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convents. These events began to provide a serious and safe alternative to the cities and their guild systems.82

A wide variety of both commissioned and uncommissioned art was eventually offered on the Netherlandish market. Art dealers operated as intermediaries between artists and potential buyers,83_{providing large quantities and monumental works of art.}84_{Moreover, such dealers}

even provided exotic pigments for painters.85_{Some were not only active within the Low}

Countries but also shipped Netherlandish works of art across the continent. For instance, in the registrars of the cathedrals of León and Toledo in the first half of the fifteenth century, at least three merchants from Utrecht were documented providing works of art to both

interiors.86_{Thus, Netherlandish merchants made deals with workshops or bought the goods at}

the annual fairs and shipped them across the continent.

In the urban centres of the Low Countries, the traditional workshops continued to produce commissioned works for the nobility, Church and Bruges city elite. However, the market was simultaneously moving more and more towards a system of supply and demand, with

anonymous productions becoming more frequent. The Netherlandish art market had become flexible over the course of the second half of the fifteenth century. Art could be purchased for almost any price.

82 Van Houtte, ‘‘Les foires,’’ 179-80, 185, 200-3; Feenstra ‘‘Les foires aux Pays-Bas

septentrionaux,’’ 232-3.

83 The first registered dealer was a certain Claes van Holland, in 1460 as ‘‘coopman van

schilderien’’ in Leuven, see: Campbell ‘’The Art Market,’’ 196-7. In Antwerp, some decades later, the first art dealer was registered in the Guild, see: Vermeylen, ‘‘Painting for the

Market.’’ 62.

84 A document from 1432 shows that an abbot bought thirteen statues from a German

merchant in Arras for his abbey in Saint-Vaast, see Duby, The Great Art, 240. A case from 1529 shows that dealers could also buy complete altarpieces from churches; the

Sint-Gilluskerk in Bruges for example, demanded a new altarpiece, sold the old one and used the money to commission Jan Provoost, see: Weale, ‘‘les Prevost,’’ 151.

85 Vermeylen, ‘‘The colour of money.’’ 356-65.

86Jusquín and Rolán de Holanda from Utrecht registered in León (between 1419 and 1424) and in Toledo (1425), they provided bronze lecterns: Sedano, Datos documentales, 9-10. Twenty-five years later (1450), Guisguin de Utrecht was also documented in Toledo as he provided multiple artworks to the city’s cathedral: Moreno, ‘‘Jooskén de Utrecht,’’ 63-6. For more information on northern Netherlandish export to the Iberian Peninsula, see:

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A new reality: Focus on standardised productions

The international art market of Bruges naturally heavily depended on the city’s political and economic welfare. The great crises of the 1480s87_{had a major impact on the traditional system}

of supply and demand. As a result, the cities’ artists lost most of their former clientele in favour of Antwerp. In order to remain in business, the most renowned workshops also began to focus on producing standardised works of art to sell at the annual fairs or in the new blossoming economic centre, Antwerp.

Nevertheless, a number of master painters remained loyal to Bruges. Gerard David, the most renowned master of Bruges in his time and often referred to as the ‘last great master of the Bruges school’, arrived in 1484 in the middle of the crisis. It has been established that he occasionally still received commissions from Italian patrons.88_{Prominent Florentine families,}

such as the Pagnanottis and Portinaris, continued to commission art from masters in Bruges, such as the two masters who went by the notnames Master of the Legend of Saint Ursula89

and Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy.90_{It is surprising that Bruges had not completely lost}

its attraction in light of the disappearance of the Burgundian court and the decimation of Bruges’ council after the Habsburgians seized control.91

Around 1500, the next generation of master painters completed their education in Gerard David’s workshop. Adriaen Isenbrant, presumably a northern Netherlandish painter, and Ambrosius Benson, an Italian by birth who worked for some time as a journeyman in David’s workshop, became the most influential. Here, we may assume, work took place under a more flexible system. Previous generations counted on permanent commissions, but these three also had to focus on uncommissioned art.

A conflict between Benson and David provides us with a snapshot of the latter’s workshop practices. Benson, who became a master painter that year, owed David a large amount of money.92_{The account began with Benson seemingly forgetting to take along two trunks of} 87 See chapter 2: From Bruges to Antwerp.

88 See Ainsworth, Gerard David.

89 Nuttall, From Flanders to Florence, 70, 75, 144, 159, 220, 231. 90 Ibid., 85.

91 Between 1477 and 1489 Bruges city council, as was common practice, was renewed

sixteen times. Of the 126 alderman that served, 51 were arrested of whom numerous were executed, see: Janssens, ‘‘Macht en Onmacht,’’ 36-44.

92 The document mentions 7 pond, a large amount for painters; the sum was enough to

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personal belongings when he left the workshop of David, when he became a master painter after being David’s student. David opened them in search of painter’s materials that belonged to him. Instead, he found numerous drawings he claimed were his. In revenge, he kept all of the materials, including those that really belonged to Benson. In 1519 Benson summoned David before court. His complaints and David’s defence reveal the tools the two used: a model book containing studies of heads and nudes, a finished representation of the Virgin, a panel showing the Lamentation, an unfinished Mary Magdalene and ‘diverse patterns’ (‘patronen’),93_{or apparent model drawings or pricked cartoons, used for the transfer of}

repeatedly used designs. As the patterns were mentioned more than once in the court proceedings, they must have been important.94

Adriaen Isebrant certainly also re-used successful elements from his paintings. In 1545 he had been commissioned by the Bruges guild to paint a new banner. Isenbrant had to admit later that he had used the old banner of the guild as a pattern, seemingly transferrin punch marks (‘met ponssene’) to the image.95_{In the process he had somehow ruined the original. Earlier, in}

1534, Bruges painter Jan van Eeckele is linked to Isenbrant, as he was commissioned by a city aldermen to complete several small panels (‘tavereelkins’) designed by Isenbrant.96_{As Van}

Eeckele was still a student,97_{it seems he, as an almost accomplished artist, was commissioned}

by Isenbrant to complete his compositions.

Besides the sixteenth-century documents proving the existence of techniques for transferring ready-made figures, earlier productions from around 1500 clearly show that these three artists and their peers had already delivered readymade compositions at least a few decades before Van Eeckele. Lisbon’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt (fig. 21) is strikingly similar to the Rest

on the Flight into Egypt in New York (fig. 20) and Washington DC (fig. 14). The later panel’s

underdrawings clearly show that David was still working on the composition, indicating that the Washington panel was the actual proto-type and that David, or more likely one of his workshop members, later executed New York and Lisbon’s version. Besides Lisbon, New

York and Washington, at least seven other versions of the harmonious depiction of the story of

the early life of Christ are known.98_{These small-sized panels, we may assume, were made to}

see: de Kerf, De Juiste Prijs, 46-9.

93 Parmentier, Bescheiden omtrent Brugsche schilders, 93-2. 94 Ainsworth, Gerard David, 7-55.

95 Wilson, ‘‘Workshop Patterns,’’ 23-7.

96 Parmentier, Bescheiden omtrent Brugsche schilders, 236

97 One month later Van Eeckele appears as a free master painter in Bruges guild. 98 Ainsworth, Gerard David.