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Journalism of Courage
In the last column we had mentioned the works of Pieter Bruegel who was also part of the Flemish and Dutch Renaissance. The next logical question that follows is what was the Flemish Renaissance? This question is posed by our reader Prathibha Nayyar. To answer it simply, the Renaissance movement is usually located in Italy, while other areas often went unnoticed.
The Dutch Renaissance, however, did get due attention, albeit, less popularly than its Italian counterpart. The Flemish masters like Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, Jan Van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden, distinguished themselves from their Italian counterparts. The distinct feature about most Flemish masters is that unlike the Italians their works and compositions were less flamboyant. Their portraits and delineations of figures, whether it was Christ or a mere peasant, were less idealised and more realistic. The atmosphere of a work by Van Eyck or Weyden is meditative and still, the emotion conveyed, intensely pious and arguably less pagan and celebratory than the Italian masters.
Bosch on the other hand is considered to be a
precursor to Surrealism. His paintings were often considered the imaginations of a fevered mind. In his time the artist was known as the inventor of monsters and chimera. Hisworks have been described by a 17th Dutch historian as often less pleasant and gruesome to look at.
The common thread that runs through all Flemish painters is a taste for the real and gritty. They eschewed Grecian beauty with the same fervour that the Italians embraced it. In many ways, their ideas and approach have proved to be more visionary.
Demystify art ,e-mail georgina.maddoxexpressindia.com
