The Age of Van Eyck: The Mediterranean World and Early Netherlandish Painting 1430-1530 [Hardcover]

Till-Holger Borchert (Author), Elena Parma (Contributor), Andreas Beyer (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2002

The Age of Van Eyck focuses on the complex artistic and cultural relationships between Flanders and mediterranean Europe during the period 1430-1530, one of the most fruitful and evocative periods in European cultural history. Published to accompany the exhibition at the Groeningemuseum in Bruges in March 2002, this sumptuous volume combines the latest scholarship with an array of glorious colour reproductions of some of the most important art of the period, such as Van Eyck's altarpiece Madonna with Canon Van der Paele, among other works by Memling, Christus, da Messina, Bellini and Berruguete. An array of internationally renowned scholars have contributed fifteen essays which explore the artistic presence, influence and activities of early Netherlandish painters in foreign countries, thus securing the lasting academic impact of the project.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This luscious book is true eye candy, but it's not just another pretty picture book. The text, compiled by the exhibition curator at the Groeninge Museum in Bruges, Belgium, is revealing as well as refreshingly stirring. Written for the general reader, this volume accompanies the large-scale exhibition Jan Van Eyck, 1430-1530 held at the Groeninge Museum last spring. Intended to illustrate the revolution in oil-painting sparked by the work of van Eyck and to present the interaction between the north and south of Europe during this pivotal period, this book invites readers to look, reflect, and draw conclusions on their own. Sixteen signed chapters, such as "Art Markets," "Princes, Patrons and Eclecticism: Naples and the North," and "A New Look on the World: The Invention of Landscape," set a big-picture stage. The catalog section, which follows, is divided into geographical sections (Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal) and is concise and just as well written. Roughly 130 paintings from the 15th century (almost all on panel) generously fill the pages; some are reproduced here for the first time in color. No book has so thoroughly covered this subject in at least 20 years, and the quality of the images makes this more than worth the price. Highly recommended. Jennifer Moldwin Gustafson, Detroit Inst. of Arts
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

No book has so thoroughly covered this subject in at least 20 years....more than worth the price. -- Library Journal, 1 October 2002

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500237956
• ISBN-13: 978-0500237953
• Product Dimensions: 12.2 x 10 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,618,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The cake below the frosting, February 23, 2005

By 

Reed Lockwood "I like Eyck!" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Age of Van Eyck: The Mediterranean World and Early Netherlandish Painting 1430-1530 (Hardcover)

I certainly agree with the above editorial, except it's more than candy.
As an amateur it's one thing to read chapter after chapter that reveal my arthistorical ignorance of this giant, yet another to see image after color image (even in the catalogue!) that elicit "whoa-I'd-no-idea," how influential his style, and those of the other International Style artists, were on his contemporaries, and the socio-geopolitical-economic forces that help explain Master Johannes' influence.
So if you enjoy, wish to understand more about, or just can't get enough of the Ecykians, you need to buy this book. The images are good, a great many new to me, but not quite as compellingly printed as deVos' "The Flemish Primitives : The Masterpieces". However that superb book is more an insular collection than this continental analysis.
In trying to understand a rather invisible man and his unusually complex life, showing what he touched; where he traveled; what his colleagues and admirers achieved, who gave him thematic inspiration, guidance and financial incentive; and the many reasons why, are the features making this book exceptional. Until we can restore an enlightened monarchy, or princes of more than software or heredity, books such as this will have to lead us out of last century's fog.
Two negatives: 1. typical tedious troves of trivia that slow/show off scholarship but add little. Luggage in the trunk, please. 2. Just two pages about how the International Style miracle began (the book begins at 1432, another immaculate conception?). Obviously subject enough for another book, but unless the first artist was an eidetiker, the factors catalyzing the I.S. are linked to those of its spread and might have been given a chapter.
Well worth the price.