Netherlandish Painting and Renaissance Italy

Fabulous three week course from ARTscapes looking at the relationship between Netherlandish painting and Italy. 

Paula Nuttall look us clearly through various aspects of this relationship with wonderful illustrations. In week one we busted idea, started by Michelangelo, that Netherlandish art was seen as primitive and sentimental, and looked at the common themes in Netherlandish and Italian art in the 15th century and how Northern art was admired and purchased at that time.

Week two we focused on how the Northern paintings got down into Italy, who the patrons were and whether they bought work when travelling to the north or commissioned it from a distance. Examples we looked at included this wonderful portrait of Francesco D’Este, the illegitimate son of Leonello D’Este who was sent to the Burgundian court to be educated, by Van Der Weyden. We also looked at three art works commissioned by Thomaso Portinari including the fabulous altarpiece in the Uffizi.

Finally we looked at how the techniques and ideas of the north were adopted by Italian artists including exploding the Vasari myth that Antonella da Messina travelled to Bruges to learn from Van Eyck. We looked at how Federico de Montefeltro employed Justus of Ghent as a court artist who in turn inspired other artists at court such as Piero Della Francesco and well as looking at the effect of the Portinari altarpieces arrival in Florence in 1483. 

As ever with the longer courses this left we with a lot to ponder and I can’t wait to get back to the galleries to see the work in the flesh again with new eyes.

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