This essay does not strive to give a comprehensive review of literature on Antwerp Mannerism, but rather to summarize the focal points of discussions and to outline key roadmaps for further studies. The majority of scholars... more
This essay does not strive to give a comprehensive review of literature on Antwerp Mannerism, but rather to summarize the focal points of discussions and to outline key roadmaps for further studies.
The majority of scholars consider Antwerp Mannerism as a late Gothic style influenced by Italian Quattrocento. Its genesis, however, remains a subject of hot debates. If Hoogewerff argued on the German origins, Vandenbroeck attributed it to an inflow of provincial artists. Whatever were the origins, Expressionist shapes were not inherent to the early Netherlandish painting and the attempt to fuse them with ‘realism’ of the Flemish Primitives seemed a revolutionary breakthrough following the pictorial crisis of the 1480s. Despite a rift in chronology, Antwerp Mannerism has irrefutable similarities with the later Italian Mannerism. Thus exploration of intellectual and religious context of early sixteenth-century Antwerp art similar to Max Dvořák’s approach can be another direction for further research of the Italian and Spanish Mannerism. The subject matter of Antwerp Mannerist art, too, remains largely unexplored. Dan Ewing’s breakthrough essay showed that the changes in iconography (such as reinvention of the well-known subject) could mark shifts in identity. By no means they are merely ‘anecdotic’ as Paul Philippot stated. What subjects were popular beyond the Adoration of the Magi and why? Were there any secular subjects? How did the iconography of Antwerp art reflect the intersection of different Netherlandish schools of art? How did later artists incorporate the pictorial inventions of the Antwerp Mannerists? Finding an answer to these and similar questions can provide a rich context for further studies on this ‘contrived’ but unique style. Keywords: Mannerism, Antwerp, Max Friedländer, Gothic Mannerism, Renaissance.
Although a number of Flemish artists settled at the court of Rudolf II Habsburg, in Prague, Denys Calvaert was the only one regularly based in Bologna. As of the beginning of the seventeenth century, Calvaert begins to paint erotic... more
Although a number of Flemish artists settled at the court of Rudolf II Habsburg, in Prague, Denys Calvaert was the only one regularly based in Bologna. As of the beginning of the seventeenth century, Calvaert begins to paint erotic themes, absent in his previous production. In this study, the author presents certain new paintings with large female nudes and considers if Calvaert might have been inspired by the works of artists such as Bartholomeus Spranger and Joseph Heintz. It is not completely clear how Calvaert was familiar with the paintings of the Rudolfine school: perhaps through the presence in Bologna of certain foreign collectors (such as Paulus Praun, a merchant from Nurnberg), or through his relationship with certain engravers such as Aegidius Sadeler, Pieter de Jode and Jacob Matham. The stylistic links between Calvaert and the school of Prague are perfectly illustrated by the Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine presented here. Although formerly attributed to Calvaert himself, it is actually by Dirck de Quade van Ravesteyn. A comparison will be made with a painting in the National Museum of Warsaw. A beautiful, small unpublished painting representing Mars, Venus and Cupid is also attributed here to Ravesteyn.
