Portraiture Netherlandish portraiture spans the sacred and secular worlds. Donor portraits appear in altarpieces and are essential parts of devotional diptychs and triptychs: in these smaller works used for worship in the home, a single sitter, a husband and wife, or a donor and his patron saint face a devotional image, such as the Virgin and Child, in an attitude of prayer. There also existed a strong tradition for independent portraiture, reflecting a society that became increasingly secularized in the sixteenth century. The expressive character of each work depended to a great degree on its intended context, as well as on the artist’s sensibility. The portrait might suggest authority or aristocratic refinement (as in Rogier’s portrait of Francesco d’Este), or sprituality (as seen in Hugo van der Goes’s Benedictine Monk, for example), while Memling’s sitters seem to attain an areligious serenity. From the beginning Netherlandish artists experimented with compositional devices that might enhance the immediacy of their portraits: the corner space, the sill, the trompe-l’oeil frame. All these inventions define the sitters’ space in relation to ours and make their presence more vivid. In later pictures some of the men and women who are portrayed address us through their quality of psychological immediacy, or with a bold glance or a gesture that reaches into our space. In these ways Netherlandish artists pioneered the modern idea of portraiture as the record of an individual’s character as well as his or her appearance, and it is small wonder that their work was admired and emulated throughout Europe. (Click on details for more information.) From Van Eyck to Bruegel Home | Next Page

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