I want to share my enthusiasm for a big, lovely, art book that I
found at the library.
"Prayers and Portraits: unfolding the Netherlandish diptych" was
published in 2006 in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name,
prepared by the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the
Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, in association with
Harvard University Art Museums. Authors are John Oliver Hand,
Catherine A. Metzger, and Ron Spronk. From the opening paragraph of
the foreword, to the final paragraph of the acknowledgments on p.
275, this book is an armchair art history seminar of the Low
Countries in the 15th & 16th centuries and a delight to read. Every
work is discussed in terms of who made it, for whom, when, and what
some of the symbols are [or may be, if there's no consensus] -- and
while that's the part that contributed to my personal education, the
really cool part is that each work is also represented by good color
reproductions of the whole work and details thereof -- pages and
pages of STUFF.
This book is a treasure trove of household furnishing and dress
details. Carpets, candles, books, vases, scissors...! Slippers,
smocks, rosaries, rings, purses...! I can't take it all in, in one
sitting. And I really want to know: are those frog closures on St.
Paul's coat (on p. 131), or just a rendition of ladder lacing? ;-)
(Painted in the first half of the 16th century, it reminds me a bit
of the "Polish" fastenings of some Elizabethan doublets.)
Anyway, I highly recommend this work for students of material culture
as well as art history students. It's big -- it's hard to carry home
in a standard-size briefcase -- and it's going to be even more
difficult to return because it's so beautiful it'll hurt to give it
up. :-) And there's an awesome bibliography, too, which has had me
pounding out ILL requests all morning.
Enjoy!
Suzanne
p.s. ISBN 0-300-12155-5, 339 p., published by the National Gallery
of Art (Washington) in association with Yale University Press.
p.p.s I know someone will ask, so here's the quote from the
Foreword: "In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries master artists
such as Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, and Hugo van der Goes--
working in the territory that includes present-day Belgium, The
Netherlands, Luxembourg, and portions of France--produced some of the
most beautiful and intriguing paintings of the period. The
significance of this region at the time far outstripped its
relatively small size, for its cities constituted vital hubs for
commerce and banking, major sources of fine art and luxury items, and
dynamic centers for a burgeoning art market. One popular art form
was the Netherlandish diptych, comprising two panels hinged together
like a book, on which the painted images assumed a compelling
relationship to one another as a result of their pairing. ..." And
the final line of the Acknowledgments: "Finally, we express
heartfelt thanks to Dare Hartwell, Beth Miller, and Karma Tomm, who
on many occasions saved us from becoming totally unhinged."
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