This beautifully illustrated book provides a complete overview of the art ofthe Southern Netherlands from 1585 to 1700 file years between the separationof the S... » 

This beautifully illustrated book provides a complete overview of the art ofthe Southern Netherlands from 1585 to 1700 file years between the separationof the Southern from Northern provinces and the end of Spanish rule. EminentFlemish art historian Hans Vlieghe examines the development of Flemish andspecifically Antwerp painting the activity and influence of Rubens and suchother leading masters as Van Dyck and Jordaens the Antwerp tradition ofspecialization among painters and the sculpture and architecture of thisperiod. He also describes the socioeconomic and political conditions thatfacilitated file rise evolution and expansion of Flemish art focusingparticularly on the Counter Reformation.In the first half of the seventeenth century Antwerp painting rapidly becameone of the highlights of Baroque art. This was clearly linked to the activityof Rubens who was immensely important not only for the astonishing stylisticquality of his work and for his enormous influence on several generations ofpainters but also for his workshop practice modeled on the Italian method andhis ability to familiarize others with Italian Renaissance and Early Baroqueart. Yet Rubenss work can only be understood fully in the context of theAntwerp tradition. Vlieghe organizes the book around the pictorial categoriesof Antwerps specialists and discusses the contributions of well known andlesser known artists to each type of painting. «