Flemish art and architecture refers to works produced in an area that roughly corresponds to present-day \TBelgium\t. The correct name of this area is Southern Netherlands, but it is commonly known as Flanders, for the largest of its provinces. With few exceptions, Flemish artists achieved their most significant successes in painting rather than in sculpture or in architecture. The most creative and influential Flemish artistic activity occurred during the 15th century and the first decades of the 17th century. During the 15th century, Flanders, then ruled by the dukes of Burgundy, was politically and artistically affiliated with France. Artists worked for prosperous local patrons, especially in Ghent, Bruges, and Brussels, and for the Burgundian court. After the marriage (1477) of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian of Austria, Flanders became part of the Habsburg empire (see \THabsburg\t dynasty); the Southern Netherlands was governed by the Spanish Habsburgs through the end of the 17th century. PAINTING From the 11th through the 14th century manuscript illumination (see \Tilluminated manuscripts\t) was the most common form of painting. The finest examples, such as the work of Jean Bondol (fl. 1368-c.1381), date from the second half of the 14th century. Like other Flemish painters who worked in France, Bondol combined the elegant stylization of French manuscripts with a less idealized depiction of landscape and secondary figures. The supreme achievement of this form was the Tres Riches Heures de Jean duc de Berry, painted by the \TLimbourg brothers\t prior to 1416. This manuscript represents the highest development of the International Style (see \TInternational Style\t, art) and anticipates, in its detailed depictions of everyday life, the Flemish interest in \Tgenre painting\t. In the 15th century manuscript illumination was supplanted in important by painting on wooden panels. The characteristics of these panel paintings can be summarized by contrasting the principal Flemish innovation of the 1420s--the medium of oil paint--with the contemporary Italian development of linear perspective (see \Tperspective\t, art), by which means Italian artists were able to structure space according to mathematical principles. Flemish artists preferred empirical analysis to mathematical proportion and delighted in representing the visible world in all its variety. Oil paint made possible the depiction of minute still-life details and landscape vistas and permitted representation of the effects of light in shape and texture. Flemish artists applied oil paint in superimposed translucent layers, attaining the unprecedented rich, glowing colors that are a hallmark of their painting. Jan van \TEyck\t, in such works as the Madonna with Chancellor Rolin (c.1434; Louvre, Paris), was the first to realize the full potential of the new medium. The symbolic mentality of the Middle Ages was accompanied by a keen interest in the secular, material world, and Flemish late-Gothic paintings, despite their religious subjects, often contained many carefully assembled mundane details. Even the most commonplace objects were treated as vehicles for religious symbolism. In the Merode Altarpiece by the Master of Flemalle (see \TCampin, Robert\t) (c.1425-27; The Cloisters, New York City), for example, the towel is both a functional household object and a symbol of the Virgin's purity. By uniting the secular and the spiritual, the Flemish artist placed religious events in a contemporary setting and imbued the physical world with spiritual significance. Although sharing these characteristics, artists worked in individual styles. Jan van Eyck was the first Flemish painter to sign his works. His paintings, dispassionate and calm, are exceptional in their handling of light and detail. Rogier van der \TWeyden\t was much more concerned with the rendering of human emotions. Whereas his teacher, the Master of Flemalle, depicted robust figures in local settings, van der Weyden detached religious drama from everyday locations and gave his work strong linear rhythms and delicate refinement of form. Hans \TMemling\t excelled in portraiture, depicting his contemporaries with unaffected simplicity and startling directness of observation. The melancholy, spiritual intensity of Hugo van der \TGOES\t, who exploited the symbolic possibilities of realistic detail, has found many 20th-century admirers, and anticipated the work of expressionists such as Vincent van Gogh. Since the mid-15th century, Italian artists had admired and been inspired by Flemish paintings. The Portinari Altarpiece (c.1475; Uffizi, Florence) by Hugo van der Goes, commissioned for a Florentine church, had a particularly forceful impact on Italian painters. With the advent of the 16th century and the spread of humanism in Flanders, however, the direction of artistic influence was reversed. Flemings began to emulate Italian Renaissance art, and artistic pilgrimages to Italy became common. Several changes resulted from this reorientation. New subjects and forms were introduced by Jan \TGossaert\t, known as Mabuse, who introduced the Italian manner of depicting nude figures and was the first to bring the true mythological subjects to the Netherlands. Although Quentin \TMassys\t, the founder of the Antwerp school of painting, remained closely tied to northern tradition, he assimilated Leonardo da Vinci's technique of subtle shading of light and darker tones, as well as some of his compositional ideas. Bernard van ORLEY emulated \TRaphael\t's representation of human figures. Raphael's tapestry cartoons (see \Tcartoon\t, art), which were sent to Brussels around 1515, were a major influence on van Orley's work. Under Italian influence late-Gothic Flemish art began to imitate the style of \TMannerism\t; in this process, the traditional Flemish fascination with the particular gave way to a desire for generalization and large-scale patterning. This tendency was most marked in the large figural compositions of the late 16th century. While these developments were taking place, traditional northern interests were not superseded. Flemings continued to be renowned for their talent as portraitists. Moreover, by the mid-16th century landscapes and scenes of everyday life had evolved into independent subjects (see \Tgenre painting\t), and still-life painting was moving in the same direction. Peter Bruegel the Elder (see \TBruegel\t family) was the greatest painter to concentrate on traditionally northern subject matter. He too absorbed Italian influence, although on the level of pictorial organization rather than that of specific motifs. Unlike the Italians, Bruegel did not idealize human beings but depicted them in minutely detailed realistic settings. In the revolt, begun during the 1560s, that occurred throughout the Netherlands, only the Northern Netherlands gained independence from Spanish rule; the Southern Netherlands remained part of the Habsburg empire. The two countries, politically separate from 1609, became artistically distinct. In both parts of the Netherlands the 17th century marked a turning away from the abstraction and artificiality of Mannerism, and baroque art had a very different character in Flanders than in Holland (see \TDutch art and architecture\t). Catholicism was reinstated in Flanders, and church patronage of art continued. The aristocratically inclined burghers continued to purchase mythological and historical subjects as readily as scenes of domestic life. With all subjects, Flemish painters used rich colors and decorative compositions and frequently represented dramatic action. Whereas in the Northern Netherlands several distinct local styles flourished, Flemish painting was dominated by a single genius, Peter Paul \TRubens\t, a resident of Antwerp. Rubens was the first to synthesize Flemish and Italian traditions. He united the Flemish interest in finely detailed landscape, rich color, and intricate texture with the Italian tendency to generalize and compose in large-scale patterns. From this fusion Rubens produced monumental scenes of great vitality. Among those influenced by Rubens were Anthony \Tvan Dyck\t and Jacob \TJordaens\t. Van Dyck was one of the most perceptive portraitists in the history of art. He could suggest both the individuality of his sitters and their social distinction. Jordaens did not emulate the magnificence of Rubens's compositions. Instead, whether in his religious and mythological scenes or in his depictions of rustic festivities, he delighted in representing the bustle of the mundane world. His figures, though monumental in scale, are heavier and less energetic than those of Rubens. The artistic authority of Rubens is also evident in the work of landscape and still-life painters such as Frans \TSnyders\t, but his influence on those painters who worked on a small scale was less pervasive. Adriaen \TBrouwer\t combined a Flemish sense of lively movement with a Dutch emphasis on tonal values. Jan Bruegel the Elder maintained a delicate, miniaturist approach, which was quite distinct from the manner of Rubens. With the death of Rubens the golden age of Flemish painting came to an end. During the 18th and 19th centuries most Flemish artists followed the trends in French art. Jacques Louis \TDavid\t was exiled to Brussels in 1815, and his form of \Tneoclassicism\t had a particularly great impact upon Flemish painting. James \TEnsor\t was exceptional in his originality; his highly personal style, with its eerie colors and macabre, fantastic distortions, influenced the expressionist painters of the 20th century (see \Texpressionism\t, art). The most renowned Belgian painters of the 20th century are the surrealists Rene \TMagritte\t, who explored the problematical relations of images and worlds, and Paul \TDelvaux\t (see \Tsurrealism\t, art). SCULPTURE During the Carolingian period (see \TCarolingian art and architecture\t), the valley of the Meuse River became a center for ivory carving and metalwork. Mosan sculptors produced metalwork of exceptionally high quality during the Romanesque period (see \TRomanesque art and architecture\t). \LReni\ler DE HUY and \TNicholas of Verdun\t, the two greatest Flemish Romanesque sculptors, were both Mosan goldsmiths. Renier de Huy's masterpiece is the cast-brass baptismal font (c.1107-18) for the Church of Saint Barthelemy at Liege. Despite their typically Romanesque geometric quality, the relief scenes on the basin show the influence of classical art in the way drapery is handled to suggest human form. Nicholas of Verdun was the late great goldsmith of the Romanesque period. His highly influential works, such as the engraved and enameled altar frontal (finished 1181) for Kolsterneuburg, near Vienna, also reveal a knowledge of classical art as well as close observation of life. Nicholas introduced a greater naturalism in the representation of human emotions and used the lines of drapery to suggest the motion of human forms. Both characteristics were adopted and further developed in Gothic art. During the Gothic period, French sculpture exerted considerable influence on Flemish production. The most accomplished sculptor at the Burgundian court, however, was Claus \TSluter\t, a Dutchman who spent part of his career in Brussels. Sluter's powerfully individualized figures mark a crucial step in the emancipation of sculpture from its subordination to architecture. During the 16th century, Italian works became very influential in the Flemish sculptural centers of Antwerp and Mechelen. The most talented Flemish-born sculptor of the period, Giovanni da \TBologna\t, spent his highly successful career in Italy. The same was true of Francois \TDuquesnoy\t, the preeminent Flemish sculptor of the 17th century. Another important baroque sculptor was Artus \TQuellinus\t, whose principal work is the decoration of the Amsterdam Town Hall. Flemish sculptors continued to be active outside the Southern Netherlands during the 18th century. Michael \TRysbrack\t, Peter Scheemakers (1691-1781), and Laurent Delvaux (1696-1778) had successful careers in England as portraitists and tomb sculptors. Those sculptors who remained in Flanders and who worked, often anonymously, for local churches produced unusual and distinctive works. In the second half of the 17th century and throughout the 18th century, developments in the traditional art of decorating wooden church furniture culminated in the treatment of confessionals and pulpits as settings for large, complicated figural ensembles, for example, the pulpit (1699) at Brussels Cathedral by Hendrik Verbruggen. During the 19th century the influence of French sculpture was strong. French-derived neoclassicism was the dominant style of the first half of the century, but the most noteworthy sculptor of the later period was Constantin \TMeunier\t, a realist who was influenced by the style of Auguste Rodin, as can be seen in his Monument to Labor (c.1893-1905; Brussels Museum). During the twentieth century sculpture was a less important art than painting, as has always been the case in the Flemish tradition. ARCHITECTURE Artistic and cultural activity during the Romanesque period centered around monasteries and the powerful bishoprics of Tournai and Liege. Saint Barthelemy, Liege (11th-12th century), is one of the few surviving pieces of architecture from this period. Because of local prosperity, Romanesque buildings were replaced throughout the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries by new, Gothic structures. French influence on Flemish ecclesiastical architecture was especially strong at the beginning of the Gothic period. As Saints Michael and Gudule at Brussels (begun c.1226) illustrates, Flemish architects did not emphasize verticality to the same degree as did the French. The most innovative developments occurred with secular architecture, such as market halls, whose existence and size reflected the continuing increase in cloth manufacture and trade. Examples include the Cloth Hall at Ypres (c.1304-80) and the Town Hall at Bruges (begun 1376). Prominent belfries were a characteristic feature of these buildings. Not until the 16th century did Flemish architects turn away from the Gothic style and begin to imitate Italian Renaissance and Mannerist buildings. The Town Hall in Antwerp (1561-66), designed by Cornelis Floris (1514-75) and others, combines local and imported forms. Strapwork, an interlacing type of Mannerist ornament that originated in northern Europe and was popular with Flemish architects, is used sparingly. The tightly crowded and linear design of the Town Hall indicates its Mannerist character. In contrast the Jesuit Church of Saint Charles Borromeo at Antwerp (begun 1615), designed by Pieter Huyssens (1577-1637) and others, displays the full, flowing forms and the richer play of light and shade that are characteristic of baroque architecture. The facade, which includes sculptural reliefs designed by Rubens, was modeled upon Italian Jesuit examples. Significantly, the finest example of the Flemish baroque is the exuberant, triple-arched portico that Rubens designed for his own house in Antwerp. Flemish architecture in the 18th, 19th and 20 centuries generally followed European trends. The work of Victor \THorta\t is an important exception. The buildings in Brussels that he designed during the 1890s are early examples of the style known as \TArt Nouveau\t. As in Tassel House (1892-93), the linear rhythms of his designs, which emulate natural forms, are carried along by the exposed metal framework. Henri \TVan de Velde\t, who also worked in an Art Nouveau style, was important for his early espousal of principles that later informed much 20th-century architecture. He stressed the necessity of discarding excessive architectural ornament, advocated functionalism, and recognized the beauty of mechanical forms. Zirka Zaremba Filipczak Bibliography: Conway, William M., The Van Eycks and Their Followers (1921; repr. 1976); Cuttler, Charles D., Northern Painting, from Pucelle to Bruegel (1968); Friedlaender, Max J., From Van Eyck to Bruegel, ed. by F. Grossman, 3d ed. (1969); Gaunt, William, Flemish Cities (1970); Gerson, Horst, and ter Kuile, E. H., Art and Architecture in Belgium, 1600-1800 (1960); Held, Julius S., Reubens and His Circle (1981); Osten, Gert, and Vey, Horst, Painting and Sculpture in Germany and the Netherlands, 1500-1600 (1969); Panofsky, Erwin, Early Netherlandish Painting, 2 vols. (1964); Puyvelde, Leo and Thierry van, Flemish Painting, 2 vols., trans. by Alan Kendall (1970, 1972); Voet, Leon, The Golden Age of Antwerp (1973); Whinney, M. D., Early Flemish Painting (1968).