The Flemish Masters

The lavishly illustrated art book The Flemish Masters: From Van Eyck to Bruegel takes in almost a century and a half of painting, from around 1430 until the death of Pieter Bruegel the Elder in 1569. In the course of those years, painting in the Low Countries (modern day Belgium and parts of the Netherlands and northern France) reached unprecedented heights.The Flemish Masters: From Van Eyck to Bruegel offers a representative survey of the most important and influential painters of the period and of all the genres of painting that were developed or renewed in the region.

The author, Matthias Depoorter, explores what made these paintings so new and special. This approach is both genre-based and thematic, revealing something about the different artistic styles, formats, functions and strands, as well as the artistic and societal context in which they arose. These painters were thoroughly acquainted with each other's work. They frequently borrowed elements from a colleague and did something new with it. Artistic cross-fertilization was fundamental.