Painting in Bruges at the Close of the Middle Ages: Studies in Society and Visual Culture - Hardcover

Wilson, Jean

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0271016531 ISBN 13: 9780271016535

Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998

Synopsis

This book is the first to explore the origins and nature of the demand for painting in Bruges over the course of the fifteenth century and its subsequent effect on the community of painters and their workshop and marketing practices. The evolution of Bruges was fundamentally linked with commerce, and as a result of the city's thriving international trade and rising merchant class, it was to become one of the most affluent and cosmopolitan centers in late medieval Europe. However, only after the Duke of Burgundy moved his court to Bruges in the early decades of the fifteenth century would it begin to be a major center for the production of panel painting. This study examines the coming together of the opulent Burgundian court, an affluent urban bourgeoisie, and an increasingly expanding community of painters, and the effects of this dynamic social configuration on the newly emerging art of oil painting.

About this title

Review:

There is nothing in any language that offers as useful a survey of the mechanics of the Bruges school of painting, which was long Northern Europe's most important. . . . This study is an extremely useful contribution to the field. Jeffrey Chipps Smith, University of Texas at Austin"

Synopsis:

This text explores the origins and nature of demand for painting in Bruges over the course of the 15th century and its subsequent effect on the community of painters and their workshop and marketing practices. It suggests that the commissioning of paintings was used to improve social status.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0271016531
• ISBN 13: 9780271016535
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272