Jan Van Eyck, Detail The Arnolfini Portrait , 1434.
Week Two: Princes, Merchants and Patrons
It is now recognised that early Netherlandish painting was not only widely admired in Renaissance Italy, but that it had a transformative effect on Italian art itself. Learn about the reception of Netherlandish painting in Italy in this short course with V&A Course Director, Dr Paula Nuttall, an authority on the subject.
Netherlandish paintings graced the collections of the Italian elite, from the rulers of Ferrara, Urbino and Naples to the patricians of Venice and Genoa, and the Medici in Florence. While some exchanged hands as diplomatic gifts, many reached Italy through the agency of the long-established Italian mercantile colony in the international city of Bruges. Here Italians were themselves discerning patrons of local artists, notably Van Eyck’s patron Giovanni Arnolfini of Lucca, and Tommaso Portinari, manager of the Bruges branch of the Medici bank and commissioner of the great triptych by Hugo van der Goes now in the Uffizi.
At end of the century, Hans Memling was virtually the unofficial painter to the expatriate community, particularly sought after for his portraits and small devotional images. Working in this international ambit, Memling was also among the first Netherlandish painters to respond to contemporary Italian art.
This is an online event hosted on Zoom which can be watched live, or on-demand for three weeks. You will receive your link to access the event in your email confirmation and the on-demand link after the event ends. Bookings close one hour before the event.