Gerard David: Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition

Ainsworth, Maryan W. (1998)

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The great Bruges painter Gerard David (ca. 1455–1523) has traditionally been regarded by eminent art historians as the last celebrated master of the Flemish tradition, although scholars have recently acknowledged his innovative spirit and pivotal position in the transitional period between Late Medieval and Renaissance art. This study is the first, however, to examine the motivating forces behind startling developments in David's work, such as shifting devotional practices, changing art markets, the accommodation of foreign clients, and the evolving secular nature of paintings demanded by the newly wealthy middle class in the early years of the sixteenth century. David is reconsidered here as a savvy entrepreneur with a new self-awareness as an artist, beyond the station of a simple craftsman.

In order to define more clearly Davids contribution to the history of early Netherlandish painting, Maryan W. Ainsworth has studied more than one hundred works assigned to the artist and his close followers, not simply to solve problems of attribution and dating but also to analyze his working procedures and the ways in which he responded to the changing artistic environment of his time. Each work has undergone close physical examination, often by such technical means as X-radiography, infrared reflectography, and dendrochronology, so that informed conclusions could be drawn about standard practices of the day and innovative methods of production. The first two chapters introduce David's workshop techniques in his drawings and documented works. Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which owns the worlds largest collection of individual panels by David and his followers, serve to introduce the main issues presented in each of the four following chapters, where abundant comparative material, such as drawings and workshop copies, is included to help clarify the place of the major paintings within the larger context of his career. The virtue of this approach lies in the combination of technical investigations, stylistic analysis, iconographic interpretation, and socioeconomic factors to evaluate each work in its totality.

The large number of issues discussed in this important book range from the specific relationship of David's drawings to his paintings, the poles of his style represented by his documented works, the question of his origins and early development, his varied approaches to commissions produced for export to Italy and Spain, and his innovations in landscape painting, to his methods of streamlined production to supply the increasing demand of the open art market. The interdisciplinary approach of this book aims not only to provide a fresh look at the artistic production of Gerard David but also to launch a method of examination that may encourage others to ask new questions in the ongoing study of early Netherlandish painters and their development.

Table of contents

Director's Foreword
Acknowledgments
Note to the Reader
Introduction

Chapter One
Designing Solutions: David's Drawings and Workshop Practice

Chapter Two
By His Own Hand: Aspects of David's Working Methods in His Documented Paintings

Chapter Three
The Progress of Early Achievements: David's Origins and First Phase in Bruges

Chapter Four
Art for Export: Commissioned Paintings for a Foreign Clientele

Chapter Five
Landscapes for Meditation

Chapter Six
Hallmark of Bruges and the Beginning of Mass Production

Conclusion

Appendix A: Chronology of Drawings and Paintings by Gerard David

Appendix B: Dendrochronology of Paintings by Peter Klein

Bibliography
Index

About the authors

Maryan W. Ainsworth is Senior Research Fellow in the Sherman Fairchild Paintings Conservation Center at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is the author of the exhibition catalogue Petrus Christus, Renaissance Master of Bruges (1994), and the editor of Petrus Christus in Renaissance Bruges: An Interdisciplinary Approach (1995). In addition, she is co-author of Art and Autoradiography (1982, 1987) and the principal author and co-editor, with Keith Christiansen, of From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1998). She is Adjunct Professor of the History of Art at Barnard College and Columbia University and has published and lectured widely on the work of early Netherlandish painters.

Press reviews

Choice Reviews Online

"... a stellar, interdisciplinary study of the artist's technique, style, iconography, and socioeconomic context ... endlessly varied and thoughtful ..."

The Burlington Magazine

"The illustrations include a great quantity of original technical material such as X-radiographs and infra-red reflectographs. Together with the abundance of high-quality colour plates, they contribute in an exceptionally complete manner to making the authors arguments perfectly comprehensible to the reader."

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