Paths to Europe:

From Byzantium to the Low Countries

Edited by
Bernard Coulie

Artistic Director
Paul Dujardin

SilvanaEditoriale
 Contents

7 Representing the Unrepresentable:

Lessons in Image-Thinking
Paul Dujardin and Loukia Loizou Hadjigavriel

15 Paths to Europe: From Byzantium to the Low Countries.

Influences, Differences, and Intermediaries
Bernard Coulie

29 Ars devotionis: Reinventing the Icon

in Early Netherlandish Painting
Till-Holger Borchert

51 An Icon among the Statues: The Early-Modern Reception

in the Southern Low Countries of the Sienese Painting
of Notre-Dame de Grâce in Cambrai
Ralph Dekoninck

65 Angelicae Cohortes: Notes about Armoured Saints

and Angels from Byzantium to the Low Lands
Mario Scalini

83 Engaging Emotion: Beauty, Suffering and the Body

of the Crucified Christ between East and West
Myrto Hatzaki
101 Looking at Icons and Contracts for their Commission
in Fifteenth-Century Venetian Crete
Maria Vassilaki

117 The Mother God of Tenderness: The Introduction and

Dissemination of an Iconic Image in Early Netherlandish Art
Katrien Lichtert

131 The Court of Burgundy and Constantinople

Jacques Paviot

143 Under the Gold: A Database of Underdrawings

and Material Analyses on Sienese Paintings.
Connections and Dissimilarities in Painting
Techniques Across Centuries and Countries
Anna Pelagotti

151 Epilogue: Byzantium and Sienese Art

Damien Wigny

170 Biographies
28
Ars devotionis: Reinventing the Icon
in Early Netherlandish Painting1

Till-Holger Borchert

Given that a dynasty from Flanders ruled Constantinople for half a

decade and the various crusades that Byzantium endured between
the eleventh century and the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the
immediate and direct influence of Byzantine Art on the pictorial
traditions of the Low Countries and neighbouring France during
most of the Middle Ages is rather limited. This is surprising if one
considers that numerous members of the nobility from the Low
Countries and countless pilgrims from the Netherlands had ample
opportunities to encounter, relish, and disseminate Byzantium’s
culture upon their return.
It is only during the fifteenth century, at the pivotal point of the
transition between the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern
period, that the Netherlands began looking at Byzantine or pseu-
do-Byzantine models as inspiration. The reasons for such a phe-
nomenon are manifold, but the councils of the Catholic Church
increased the awareness of the importance of Byzantium for Chris-
tendom, while the devotio moderna created a demand for new de-
votional imagery.
When, in the last decade of the fourteenth century, the ars nova
emerged in the Courts of the French princes of the Fleur de Lys
and, most of all, in the artistic centres of the Low Countries, it
superseded the elegant and refined courtly style that had dominat-
ed the artistic idiom from Budapest and Prague in the East to the
Iberian Peninsula in the West. Early Netherlandish Painting seem-
ingly abandoned the symbolic language of medieval art in favour
of an unprecedented naturalism and unparalleled sense of realism
that became the foundation of the visual culture in the West.
Jan van Eyck’s Madonna of Nicolas Rolin shows the kneeling
Burgundian Chancellor in adoration of the Virgin and Child.
The event takes place in front of a vast panoramic landscape with
breathtaking details and has little in common with the symbol-
ic spaces found in contemporary Italian painting with its gilded
backgrounds that recall Byzantine traditions. One would be mis-
taken in assuming, however, that Van Eyck was not interested in
these traditions. On the contrary, the inscriptions found on some
of his original frames and on his paintings reveal a curiosity with
Byzantine or Greek culture, as is revealed by the artist’s playful use
of Greek lettering.2 Fig. 1 Hans Memling,
Furthermore, Jan van Eyck clearly adhered to compositional Christ as Man
of Sorrows, 1490,
types that originated in Byzantium and were held in the highest es- Keresztény Muzeum,
teem as they were considered truthful depictions of their subjects Esztergom

29
 and were often empowered by special indulgences. Van Eyck’s fa-
mous Lucca-Madonna may be one of the first representations of
the Virgin and Child in a pseudo-domestic setting (fig. 2). It has
long been recognized that Van Eyck consciously turned back to
Italo-Byzantine icons of the Galaktotrophousa or Nursing Virgin
that he combined with another icon, namely that of the Sweet Kiss-
ing Virgin, or Glykophilousa.3 The fusion of two venerated icons
instantly transcends Van Eyck’s pictorial representation of the Vir-
gin into her truthful image that is part of the liturgical celebration
and subsequently reveals that the pseudo-domestic space is actu-
ally a cleverly concealed liturgical space.4 This liturgical aspect of
Van Eyck’s panel is exactly what contemporaries seem to have fo-
cused upon: Lucca-Madonna soon became an authoritarian model
for depicting the Virgin Mary, as can be witnessed by the Virgin
of Abbot Wolfhard Strauss from the Benedictine Abbey of Saint
Emmeran in Regensburg (fig. 3).5 When we look at the Lucca-Ma-
donna, we are in fact witnessing the successful transformation of
a Byzantine icon into a Western icon.6 It is precisely this process
– triggered by changes in both liturgical and devotional practices –
on which I would like to focus. A few cases can help to demonstrate
how Byzantine prototypes were transformed in the Low Countries
into iconic images and how these venerated pictures accommodat-
ed more immediate forms of devotional responses.
Even though it is difficult to establish precisely the diffusion and
reception of Byzantine models into the Low Countries, the majori-
ty of Byzantine Icons reached Flanders via Venice. Venice had tra-
ditionally been a terre d’accueil for Byzantine art and had become
an important centre for the hybrid but influential Italo-Byzantine
style during the Late Middle Ages.7 Rome was of equal importance
when it came to those icons that had generated their own cult and
veneration.
The transformation of the Imago Pietatis or Man of Sorrows is a
well-known example and its growing popularity during the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries has been the subject of several im-
portant studies.8 The prototype for the image of the dead Christ
bearing the stigmata and the tools of his passion is Byzantine, but
the image underwent major transformations and was even inte-
grated into other subjects.
A Byzantine mosaic with the representation of Christus, made
around or before 1300, was brought to Rome around the middle
of the fourteenth century from Saint Catherine’s monastery at
Mount Sinai, becoming the object of considerable veneration in
the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.9 The venerated image
was soon made popular by Italian artists, such as Naddo Ceccarelli
(Kunstsammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein), Michele Giam-
bono (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art), Pietro Lorenzetti
(Altenburg, Lindenau Museum), and Lorenzo Monaco (Bergamo,
Accademia Carrara). Those copies eventually altered the original
30
icon. The appearance of the figure of Christ changed and repre-
sented his tormented corpse in a sarcophagus. The Imago Pietatis
or Christ of Pity was widespread within Italy, but also became pop-
ular in Bohemian art during the late fourteenth century. There, the
image of the Christ of Pity was eventually combined with images
of the Virgin. An early Bohemian diptych (Karlsruhe, Kunsthalle)
unites the Imago Pietatis with the Byzantine type of the Panagia
Pelagonitissa, or the Virgin with the Playful Child.10
In other instances, the Man of Sorrows was combined with the
Mater Dolorosa. Masolini combined both images in his fresco
of the Lamentation (1424) in Empoli, and Giovanni Bellini also
combined the Man of Sorrows with the Mater Dolorosa in his de-
pictions of the Lamentation in Berlin (Staatliche Museen), Milan
(Pinacoteca di Brera), and Bergamo (Accademia Carrara, fig. 4).
The combination was particularly popular in Venice and circulated
across Italy and the rest of Europe in painting, sculpture and even
in prints.11 We even find the Man of Sorrows accompanied with
the Grieving Virgin in a painting attributed to the Master of the
Passion-cycle of Kosice in what was known at the time as Upper
Hungary.12 It is noteworthy to recognize two little angels that hold
a cloth of honour that seems to allude to a slightly different icono-
graphic tradition, namely that of the Engelspietà or Dead Christ
supported by Angels.13 It combines the images of the Man of Sor-
rows with the narrative of the Angels who witnessed his resurrec-
tion and relay this miracle to the women who visit Christ’s tomb.
While the origins of this type may have been Italian where Gio-
vanni Pisano’s Pistoia pulpit (Berlin, Staatliche Museen) shows two
angels presenting the body of the Christ, the motif also appears
in German art. Early examples in German painting include two
images by the so-called Master Francke from Hamburg (Hamburg,
Kunsthalle; Leipzig, Museum für Bildende Kunst),14 but the theme
was disseminated in a plethora of different media, as monumental
sculptures such as Hans Multscher’s Man of Sorrow in Ulm-Cathe-
dral and even as woodcuts that were offered as inexpensive images
for private devotion.15
The audiences for images of the Christ of Pity were socially
diverse and included pious craftsmen as well as members of the
highest aristocracy in Europe. Goldsmiths were commissioned by
the courts to create precious Men of Sorrows made of the costliest
materials; a prominent example is the reliquary of Pope Sixtus V
(Montalto, Museo Sistino Vescovile) that was probably commis-
sioned by Charles V in Paris and was listed in the inventory of his
oratory in the Royal Palace of the Louvre before it came into the
possession of Lionello d’Este in 1450.16 Together with the so-called
Triptych de Chocques (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum) and the reverse
of the Pace da Siena (Arezzo, Museo Diocesano), the reliquary
demonstrates the use and appreciation of Byzantine imagery at the
leading courts of Europe.17
31
Fig. 2 Jan van Eyck,
Lucca Madonna,
1436, Städelsches
Kunstinstitut,
Frankfurt am Main

It is therefore no surprise to find the image of the Man of Sor-

rows in one section of the Trés Belles Heures de Jean de Berry. This
manuscript was originally commissioned at the French Court and
belonged to Jean de Berry. After Berry’s death, an unfinished part,
known today as the Turin-Milan-Hours, came to the Low Coun-
tries, where Jan van Eyck and his workshop added miniatures
in the 1430s.18 The image of the Man of Sorrows, however, was
painted three decades earlier by the so-called Master of the Para-
ment of Narbonne who is regularly identified with Jean d’Orleans,
painter to Charles V. The miniature accompanies the prayer Ave
clementissime domine and shows the Man of Sorrows supported
by two angels and surrounded by signs of his passion.19 While it is
an extraordinary miniature, by the 1420s, the subject had become
commonplace in the Books of Hours produced in Bruges for the
English Market.20
The composition had become conventional to such a degree that
32
 Fig. 3 Master of the
Madonna of Wolfhard
Strauss, Madonna
of Wolfhard Strauss,
1440–1450, Church
of St Emmeran,
Regensburg

artists like Petrus Christus (fig. 5) and Hans Memling (fig. 1) as-
sertively and confidently began to alter the representation in a de-
cidedly artistic manner that consciously anticipated the beholder’s
expectations of the norm while even transcending them in an orig-
inal pictorial way by introducing unexpected movement to engage
the devout beholder.21
Similar to the depictions of the Man of Sorrows are those imag-
es that combine the likeness of the Sacrificial Christ with the de-
piction of the tools of his passion, the arma christi. The inclusion
of the tools of Christ’s passion enhanced the narrative aspect of
the image, allowing the beholder to contemplate the sequence of
events of Christ’s sacrifice.22 In a panel dated 1472, Hans Memling
deliberately enhanced the authoritarian character of the venerated
image by adhering to a gilded background, which, by that time,
must have felt anachronistic to his contemporaries.23 A different
approach is found in an image of the Man of Sorrows combined
33
Fig. 4 Giovanni Bellini,
Christ as Man of
Sorrows with Mary and
John the Evangelist,
c. 1455, Accademia
Carrara, Bergamo

34
Fig. 5 Petrus Christus,
Christ as Man of
Sorrows, c. 1450,
Birmingham Museums
and Art Gallery,
Birmingham

35
Fig. 6 Jan Tavernier
and workshop,
Christ as the Man
of Sorrows, from
The Hours of Philip
the Good, c. 1450–
1460, Koninklijke
Bibliotheek - National
Library of the
Netherlands, The
Hague, Inv. Ms. 76F2,
fol. 221r.

with the arma in a miniature from The Book of Hours of Philip

the Good, made by Jan Tavernier and his workshop (fig. 6). The
manuscript, now in The Hague, has been deliberately illuminated
in grisaille. It enhances the artificiality of the venerated image that
was particularly popular at the Burgundian Court.24
The combination of the Man of Sorrows with the tools of his
passion was included in another popular image, namely that of
the Mass of Saint Gregory.25 Pope Gregory had doubted that the
Eucharist materialized after each and every mass until Christ him-
self appeared to him on the altar. The image became increasingly
popular in paintings and sculptures during the late fifteenth cen-
tury as it resonated and visibly countered the growing theological
discourse about the nature of the Transubstantiation of the Cor-
pus Christi during Mass – the transformation of the Eucharist into
36
Christ’s flesh and blood – which was to become the most important Fig. 7 Master of James
theological point of disagreement between the Roman Church and (IV) of Scotland
(Gerard Horenbout),
the Protestants, including Luther, during the early sixteenth cen- Simon Bening and
tury.26 A painting, attributed to the painter and illuminator Simon workshops, The Mass
Marmion from Valenciennes, not only includes a description of of Saint Gregory,
from The Rothschild
the legendary event but also arranges the arma in a manner not Prayerbook, fol. 201v,
unlike that of Memling.27 In contrast, Geertgen tot Sint Jans’ min- 1500–1520, private
iature-like panel creates a more emphatic atmosphere, intended to collection
enhance the compassion of the viewer during his devotional med-
itation and/or prayers.28 In manuscript illumination such as The
Hours of Philip the Good by Jan Tavernier (fol. 88r), but also later
manuscripts by the Master of the Older Prayerbook of Maximilian
I, such as The Hours of Isabel la Católica (fol. 264v) or Simon Ben-
ing’s Rothschild Prayerbook (fol. 201v, fig. 7), images of the Mass of
Saint Gregory often feature the pope seen from the back.29 This pic-
torial trick was to stimulate meditatio before prayers and the figure
of the pope serves as an emotional introductory figure that invites
the viewer to identify, and to imitate his recognition of Christ.
In the Low Countries, as in Venice, the iconic image of the Man
of Sorrows became extremely popular in combination with the
image of the Mater Dolorosa. In contrast to the aforementioned
37
Fig. 8 Brussels examples of Bellini, Flemish artists usually combined both images
workshop, Diptych
of the Man of
in the form of a diptych for private devotion. Dieric Bouts and
Sorrows and the his workshop were pivotal in the creation of this particular type
Mater Dolorosa, of devotional diptych that altered earlier types, including por-
c. 1475–1499,
Groeningemuseum,
traits, made popular by Rogier van der Weyden and the Master
Bruges of Flémalle.30 Countless versions of Bouts’ diptych exist, mostly
attributed to his workshop and to his son Albrecht Bouts.31 Bouts’
prototype also underwent changes and alterations, as can be
demonstrated by examples that were presumably made in Brussels
towards the end of the fifteenth century. The first Diptych, now
in the Groeningemuseum, explicitly returns to the more iconic
image of the Man of Sorrows (fig. 8).32 The second example is kept
in the Cathedral of Cagliari, Sardegna, and transforms the devo-
tional diptych into a triptych (fig. 9). The representation of the
Man of Sorrows and the Mater Dolorosa are now united on the
middle panel of a triptych made at the end of the fifteenth centu-
ry in a Brussels workshop. We only know a bit about its original
destination and function and it is interesting to briefly recall this
information here. The triptych was acquired by Giulio de Medici
who had accompanied his uncle Giovanni di Lorenzo on a trip to
the Low Countries in the year of 1494, during the period when the
Medici family were exiled from Florence. In Brussels, Giulio and
his uncle were guests of Duke Philip the Handsome of Burgundy
and stayed in the Coudenberg Palace. In all likelihood, Giulio de
Medici was able to acquire the middle panel directly from the art-
ist’s shop where such popular devotional images were presumably
available in stock. The wings were then produced to the specific
38
demands of the patron. Giulio took the entire triptych with him Fig. 9 Brussels
on his trip and eventually brought it back to Italy upon his re- workshop, Triptych
of Pope Clemens
turn. When he succeeded to the papal throne as Clemens VII in VII, c. 1500, Museo
1521, he took the triptych to his Palace in the Vatican where it Diocesano, Cagliari
was kept in his private sleeping chamber and surely served his
private devotion. During the infamous Sacco di Roma of 1527,
when Spanish and German soldiers of Emperor Charles V entered
Rome, the papal palace was looted and Giulio’s triptych was stolen
by a Spaniard. On his return to Spain, the soldier felt remorse and
when going ashore in Sardegna he returned the triptych to the
Augustinians of Cagliari. Clemens VII donated the triptych to the
cathedral where it needed to be shown during Ascension Day ac
honorifice ac devote.33
The combined image of the Man of Sorrows and the Mater Do-
lorosa had in any event become conventional to such a degree that
artists again started to deviate from the norm by finding pictori-
al solutions that exceeded the viewer’s conventional expectations
(fig. 10a-b). Memling’s diptych – made for an Italian client, as it
inspired Italian artists such as Ghirlandaio – transformed the orig-
inal iconography into a highly original devotional image that em-
phatically visualized the need of the imitatio Christi as propagated
by the devotio moderna.34
Let us now turn to another icon that was fundamentally trans-
formed in the Low Countries, namely that of the Pantocrator. This
image counts among the most influential icons of Byzantine ori-
gins in the West. The Pantocrator shown accompanied by the Vir-
gin and John the Baptist, for example, was represented in the apse
of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice and this image was known
to anyone who embarked on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The
same is true for the mosaics of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople
that served as a major site of Christian pilgrimage until the fall of
the city in 1453.
39
Fig. 10 Hans Memling, Diptych of the Blessing Christ
and Mary, c. 1485, Palazzo Bianco, Genova (a);
private collection, United Kingdom (b)

40
41
Fig. 11 Rogier van The image of the Pantocrator was probably made popular by
der Weyden, Braque-
Triptych (middle-
French and Flemish pilgrims returning from the Holy Land in the
panel), c. 1452, late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. One of the earliest
Musée du Louvre, known depictions that followed the Byzantine model is a small
Paris
panel that is today housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At-
tributed to the Master of Flémalle/Robert Campin, it combines the
image of Christ with that of Mary as Mater Dolorosa.35
Van Eyck and his workshop transformed the Byzantine Pantoc-
rator into the image of Christ as Salvator Mundi. The most impor-
tant and arguably the most influential depiction, however, is the
interpretation of the Ghent Altarpiece: here the Byzantine type is
deliberately quoted in order to achieve a consciously archaic and
authoritarian representation of an ambiguous divine figure that
even today cannot be interpreted with certainty as representing
God the Father or Christ.36
The image of the Ghent Altarpiece became the model for various
depictions of God the Father by Memling and Gerard David. The
image underwent another transformation when Jan Gossart en-
hanced the archaic appearance of his representation of the Pantoc-
rator by deliberately using an elaborated gilded background. It is a
fascinating thought that the artist based his subtle transformation
of Van Eyck on his first hand knowledge of the Byzantine mosaics
that he encountered on his trip to Rome in 1508.37
Rogier van der Weyden’s Braque-Triptych also deserves atten-
tion in this context. The middle panel shows the Blessing Christ
in the company of the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist
(fig. 11).38 The dark flesh tone of the face of Christ seems to de-
liberately emulate icons and this forms a strong contrast with the
remarkable background landscape that Rogier chose to include.
42
It is noteworthy that while Rogier’s Braque-Triptych is among the
artist’s most influential works, the realistic background was con-
sidered oblivious when Rogier’s image of the Blessing Christ was
adopted by the following generation of painters and illuminators.
In the examples by Hans Memling (fig. 12) and Quentin Metsys
(fig. 13), one senses the urge to represent the figure of Christ in a
more conservative setting: both artists either used a neutral dark
background, or added gilding in order to emulate the image of an
ancient icon.39
Let us now turn to yet another icon, namely the Holy Face. Since
the thirteenth century, the icon of the Holy Face – allegedly paint-
ed on canvas – had been given to the monastery of Ten Duinen in
Koksijde and became the source of special veneration.40 The image
was then adapted into a representative form of the image of Saint
Veronica. The etymology of Veronica, of course, consists of the
Latin word verum and the Greek work iconos meaning ‘the true
image’. Veronica had made an impression of Christ’s face on the
way to the cross, considered to be the only true image of the Sav-
iour created by divine intervention as opposed to human hands.
In the painting of Saint Veronica by the Master of Flémalle/Rob-
ert Campin in the Städel, the sudarium (sweat cloth) serves as the
attribute of the Saint, yet, the way the Holy Face has been painted
– an illusionistic depiction of a transparent veil – is a stunning
demonstration of the mimetic and artistic abilities of the artist
who, undoubtedly, wanted to impress his patrons.41
Hans Memling depicted the image of Christ on Veronica’s sudar-
ium on the reverse side of the Floreins-Triptych of 1479 (fig. 15).
An earlier version depicts the Holy Face in colour, but now he de-
cided to represent Christ in grisaille in an otherwise fully coloured
picture, so as to enhance the artificial quality of the image, where-
by he claimed to be the creator of the true image that was very well
made by human hands.42
Undeniably, there was an increased interest in the depiction
of the Holy face. Jan van Eyck created two different versions of
Christ’s true likeness that transformed an icon into a portrait
(fig. 14). The transformation has been linked to discussions at
the Council of Ferrara and Florence, in which Burgundy partic-
ipated. After the constant threats on Christian Constantinople,
the Church tried to overcome the schism between the Byzantine
Church of the East and the Roman Church of the West. Rep-
resentatives of both the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches
joined the unsuccessful Council of Ferrara and Florence, which
began in 1438 and ended in 1440.43 Van Eyck painted at least two
different versions of the Vera icon and they were, perhaps not by
coincidence, dated 1438 and 1440 on the original frames. In any
case, Van Eyck’s portraits of the Face of Christ, of which only four
copies survive, are milestones in the transformation of Byzantine
models.44
43
Fig. 12 Hans Memling,
Christ as Salvator
Mundi, c. 1480–1485,
private collection,
United States

44
Fig. 13 Quentin
Metsys, Christ as
Salvator Mundi,
c. 1505–1510,
private collection,
United Kingdom

45
Fig. 14 Copy after
Jan van Eyck, Holy
Face (from 1440),
early 17th century,
Groeningemuseum,
Bruges

46
 Van Eyck’s image of the Holy Face was copied by members of Fig. 15 Hans Memling,
Exterior of the
his workshop45 and by Petrus Christus, allowing his works to re- Floreins-Triptych,
main prominent until the sixteenth century, when painters such as 1479, Memling
Albrecht Bouts, Gerard David, and Adriaan Isenbrandt produced Museum,
Sint-Janshospitaal,
several versions on panel as well as on canvas.46
Bruges
In this short overview I have deliberately excluded a detailed dis-
cussion of the transformation of Marian Icons in the Low Coun-
tries with which I started my discussion. This is dealt with in more
detail elsewhere in this volume.

47
 1
I would like to acknowledge the in- (1977), pp. 177–208; Hans Belting, Das Bild
spiring contribution by Maryan W. und sein Publikum im Mittelalter, Berlin,
Ainsworth, ‘“À la façon grèce”: The En- 1981, especially pp. 199–280.
counter of Northern Renaissance Artists 9
See Heike Schlie, ‘Erscheinung und
with Byzantine Icons’, in Helen C. Evans Bildvorstellung im spätmittelalterlichen
(ed.), Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261- Kulturtransfer: die Rezeption der Ima-
1557), New York, The Metropolitan Mu- go Pietatis als Selbstoffenbarung Christi
seum of Art, New Haven-London, Yale in Rom’, in Andreas Gormans, Thomas
University Press, 2004, pp. 545–593. Lentes (eds.), Das Bild der Erscheinung,
2
Jan van Eyck’s use of Greek and Hebrew is Berlin, 2007, pp. 59–121; see also Belting
discussed in a forthcoming article by Susan 1990, pp. 379–381.
Jones about the inscriptions on his paintings. 10
On this process, see Belting 1981, pp. 53–68.
The article is based on the paper she gave at 11
Of particular interest in this context
the Van Eyck-Symposium in Brussels in 2013. is Martin Schongauer’s engraving of the
3
Carol J. Purtle, The Marian Paintings of Man of Sorrows (Lehrs 34), as it dissem-
Jan van Eyck, Princeton, 1982, especially inated the type in Germany; see Lothar
pp. 98–126. Jochen Sander, Niederlän- Schmitt, Martin Schongauer und seine
dische Gemälde im Städel: 1400–1500, Kupferstiche, Weimar, 2004, p. 123.
Mainz, 1993, pp. 244–263; Jochen Sand- 12
Borchert 2010, p. 516.
er, ‘Die Entdeckung der Kunst’: Niederlän- 13
See Gert von der Osten, ‘Engelspietà’,
dische Kunst des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts in Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunst-
in Frankfurt, Mainz, 1995, pp. 36–39. geschichte, vol. 5 (1960).
On the impact of Van Eyck’s interior on 14
On the problems regarding Master
Filippo Lippi see, for example, Frances Francke, see Martina Sitt (ed.), Glan-
Ames-Lewis, ‘Fra Filippo Lippi and Flan- zstücke eines Meisters, der nicht Francke
ders’, Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 42 hieß, Berlin and Hamburg, 2014.
(1979), pp. 255–273. 15
Belting 1981, pp. 105–120; see also
4
Erwin Panofsky, Early Netherlandish Peter Parshall and Rainer Schoch (eds.),
Painting. Its Origin and Character, Cam- Origins of European Printmaking, New
bridge (Mass), 1953, pp. 184–185; Purtle Haven–London, Yale University Press,
1982, pp. 124–126; Barbara G. Lane, The 2006, pp. 242–252.
Altar and the Altarpiece: Sacramental 16
See, most recently, Lorenza Mochi On-
Themes in Early Netherlandish Painting, ori and Laura Laureati (eds.), Gentile da
New York, 1984, pp. 14–23; Craig Har- Fabriano et l’altro Rinascimento, Milan,
bison, Jan van Eyck: The play of realism, 2006, pp. 102–103.
London, 1991, pp. 78–85. 17
Elisabeth Taburet-Delahaye (ed.), Pa-
5
Till-Holger Borchert (ed.), Van Eyck tot ris 1400: Les arts sous Charles VI, Paris,
Dürer: De Vlaamse Primitieven en Cen- 2004, pp. 170–172.
traal-Europa 1430–1530, Tielt, Lannoo, 18
See Till-Holger Borchert, Van Eyck: Re-
2010, p. 358. naissance Realist, Cologne and New York,
6
Belting understands the introduction of 2008, pp. 78–86.
the Byzantine type even as a conscious artis- 19
Eberhard König, Die Très Belles Heures
tic quote on behalf of the painter, see Hans von Jean de France, Duc de Berry, Mu-
Belting, Bild und Kult, Munich, 1990, p. 530. nich, 1998, pp. 38–40.
7
In addition to the import of Icons from 20
See, for example London, British Library
Italy, Byzantine culture also spread via Ms Southwark, Metropolitan See, Ms 7,
trade-routes in the east, that connected the fol. 102 v. or the respective miniature in
Balkans via Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Co- the Hours of Henry Bowet, Bruges, Public
logne to the Low Countries. See also Maria Library, on loan from the King Baudouin
Georgopoulou, ‘Venice and the Byzantine Foundation; see Maruits Smeyers (ed.),
Sphere’, in Evans 2004, pp. 489–494. Vlaamse Miniaturen voor Van Eyck (ca.
8
Erwin Panofsky, ‘Imago Pietatis’, in Fest- 1380 – ca. 1420), Leuven, 1993.
schrift für Max J. Friedländer zum 60. Ge- 21
On Christus’ Man of Sorrows, in Birming-
burtstag, Leipzig, 1927, pp. 261–308; Rudolf ham, see Maryan Ainsworth, Petrus Chris-
Berliner, ‘Arma Christi’, in Münchner Jahr- tus, New York, 1994, pp. 112–116; on Mem-
buch der Bildenden Kunst 3. Series 6 (1955), ling’s panel from Ezstergom, see Till-Holger
pp. 35–152; idem, ‘Bemerkungen zu eini- Borchert, Memling: Rinascimento Fiammin-
gen Darstellungen des Erlösers als Schmer- go, Geneva-Milan, 2014, p. 136.
zensmann’, in Das Münster 9 (1956), pp. 22
See Suckale 1977.
97–117; Robert Suckale, ‘Überlegungen 23
See Dirk De Vos, Hans Memling, Ant-
zur Zeichenhaftigkeit mittelalterlicher werp, 1994, no. 24.
Andachtsbilder’, in Städel-Jahrbuch N.F. 6 24
Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National

48
Library of the Netherlands, Ms.76F2, fol. 221r, der Frömmigkeit. Die spätmittelalterli-
see Till-Holger Borchert (ed.), Jan van Eyck: che Devotio Moderna in den Südlichen
Grisallas, Madrid, 2009, pp. 166–173. Niederlanden’, in Peter van den Brink
25
See Thomas Lentes, ‘Verum Corpus (ed.), Blut und Tränen: Albrecht Bouts
und Vera Imago. Kalkulierte Bildbezie- und das Antlitz der Passion, Regensburg,
hungen in der Gregorsmesse’, in Andreas 2016, esp. pp. 32–33.
Gormans, Thomas Lentes (eds.), Das Bild 32
See Till-Holger Borchert in Van den
der Erscheinung, Berlin, 2007, pp. 13–26. Brink 2016, p. 134.
26
Claudia Gärtner, ‘Die “Gregorsmesse” als 33
André Chastel, The Sack of Rome, 1527,
Bestätigung der Transsbustantiationslehre? Princeton, 1983, pp. 98–99; see also Borchert
Zur Theologie des Bildsujets”, in Andreas 2014, p. 150.
Gormans, Thomas Lentes (eds.), Das Bild 34
Paula Nuttal, From Flanders to Florence,
der Erscheinung, Berlin, 2007, pp. 125–154. New Haven-London, Yale University
27
Toronto, Art Gallery of Ontario; on Press, 2004, pp. 143–144; see also Borchert
the attribution, see Maryan Ainsworth, 2014, pp. 130–134.
‘New Observations on the Working Tech- 35
Ainsworth 2004, pp. 565–566.
niques in Simon Marmions Panel Paint- 36
Borchert 2008, p. 24.
ings’, in Thomas Kren (ed.), Margaret of 37
See Ariane Mensger, Jan Gossaert: Die
York, Simon Marmion and the Visions of niederländische Malerei zu Beginn der
Tontal, Malibu, 1992, pp. 248–249. Neuzeit, Berlin 2002, pp. 34–39; Maryan
28
Utrecht, Museum Catharijneconvent; Ainsworth, Man, Myth, and Sensual Pleas-
see Friso Lammertse (ed.), Vroege Hol- ure: Jan Gossart’s Renaissance, New York
landers. Schilderkunst van de late Mid- 2010, pp. 213–217. A different reading, one
deleeuwen, pp. 83–84; see also Bernard that does not see the impact of Gossart’s
Ridderbos, ‘Objecten en vragen’, in Bern- first hand experience of Byzantine art in
hard Ridderbos, Henk van Veen (eds.), Italy, is suggested by Marisa A. Baas, Jan
Om iets te weten van de Oude Meesters, Gossart and the Invention of Netherlandish
Nijmegen, 1995, pp. 110–118. Antiquity, Princeton, 2016, pp. 35–36.
29
Den Haag, Koninklijke Bibliotheek 38
See Philippe Lorentz and Micheline
- National Library of the Netherlands, Comblen Sonkes, Corpus de la peinture des
Ms.76F2, fol. 88r (The Holy Mass), see anciens Pas-Bas méridionaux et de la prin-
n. 24; on The Hours of Isabel the Catholic cipauté de Liège au quinzième siècle. Musée
in the Cleveland Museum of Art, see Pat- du Louvre, III, Brussels, 2001, pp. 133–184,
rick M. De Winter, ‘The Hours of Isabel la esp. 139–141; Büchsel, 2004, pp. 163–165.
Católica’ in The Bulletin of the Cleveland 39
Ainsworth 2004, p. 568; Borchert
Museum of Art 47 (1981), pp. 342–425, 2014, p. 138 (Memling); Hand, Metzger,
esp. on the Rothschild-Prayerbook; see Spronk 2006, pp. 110–115.
Christie’s sales catalogue The Rothschild 40
Adriaen De But, Cronica et cartularium
Pryaerbook to be offered in Renaissance, monasterii de Dunis, Bruges, 1864, pp.
Wednesday 29 January 2014. 46–47; see Ainsworth 2004, pp. 560–561.
30
See John O. Hand, Catherine A. This is but one example. More research
Metzger and Ron Spronk, Prayers and in the archives is needed to understand
Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlandish the dissemination of venerated images in
Diptych, New Haven-London, Yale Uni- medieval Flanders.
versity Press, 2006, pp. 40–61; an inter- 41
See Stephan Kemperdick and Jochen
esting example is the diptych painted Sander, Der Meister von Flémalle und
by Hans Pleydenwurff of Nuremberg Rogier van der Weyden, Ostfildern, Hatje
that combined the image of the Man of Cantz, 2009, pp. 206–204.
Sorrows – related with prints by Master 42
Belting 1990, p. 478; Hans Belting
ES – with the the painter’s patron, Count und Christiane Kruse, Die Erfindung
Georg von Löwenstein of Bamberg; see des Gemäldes: Das erste Jahrhundert der
Victor M. Schmidt, ‘Diptychs and Sup- niederländischen Malerei, Munich, 1994,
plicants: Precedents and Contexts of pp. 253–255.
Fifteenth Century Devotional Diptychs’, 43
This point was first made by Elisabeth
in John O. Hand and Ron Spronk (eds.), Dhanens, ‘Het aanschijn van Christus
Essays in Context: Unfolding the Nether- door Jan van Eyck en het Concilie van
landish Diptych, New Haven–London, Ferrara-Florenz 1438–1440’, in Academia
Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 15–25, Analecta 50, 2 (1990), pp. 44–64.
esp. p. 20. 44
Belting 1990, p. 480.
31
See the synopsis by Valentine Hender- 45
Borchert in Van den Brink 2016, p. 66.
iks, ‘Die Werkstatt von Albrecht Bouts, 46
Hendricks in Van den Brink 2016, pp.
ein florierendes Unternehmen im Dienst 68–70.

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