Lynn Jacobs has long been fascinated by Netherlandish altarpieces. Her pioneering Early Netherlandish Carved Altarpieces, 1380-1550 (1998) explored the diverse forms, manufacture, and sale of often [...] Read More
Book Reviews
Jean Bellegambe (c. 1470‒1535/36): Making, Meaning and Patronage of His Works
Anna Koopstra’s book, Jean Bellegambe (c. 1470‒1535/36): Making, Meaning and Patronage of His Works, is a helpful intervention, as the first published volume on this Douaisian painter since 1890. The [...] Read More
The Portraitist: Frans Hals and His World
Steven Nadler’s latest book is a biography of Frans Hals. This format is increasingly rare. As such, it is worth contemplating the role of biographies, and indeed biography, in early modern studies. [...] Read More
Woodland Imagery in Northern Art, c.1500-1800: Poetry and Ecology
This important and charming book examines the depiction of woodlands and individual trees in the visual arts and poetry during the long Renaissance and beyond. It posits that in former times human [...] Read More
Images and Indulgences in Early Netherlandish Painting
Indulgences have had a bad press. Reviled as the epitome of Catholic greed and the lurid practice that sparked the Reformation, to this day they are cast in a negative light. This view overlooks the [...] Read More
Johannes Vermeer: Faith, Light and Reflection
Over the past forty years, a veritable avalanche of Vermeer studies has been published, culminating with the catalogue of the Rijksmuseum’s recent blockbuster exhibition on the artist. By now, many [...] Read More