Adriaen Isenbrandt or Adriaen Ysenbrandt (between 1480 and 1490 – July 1551) was a painter in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the countr ...

, in the final years of

Early Netherlandish painting Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especia ...

, and the first of the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting of the

Northern Renaissance The Northern Renaissance was the Renaissance that occurred in Europe north of the Alps. From the last years of the 15th century, its Renaissance spread around Europe. Called the Northern Renaissance because it occurred north of the Italian Renais ...

. Documentary evidence suggests he was a significant and successful artist of his period, even though no specific works by his hand are clearly documented.

Art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

s have conjectured that he operated a large workshop specializing in religious subjects and devotional paintings, which were executed in a conservative style in the tradition of the Early Netherlandish painting of the previous century. By his time, the new booming economy of

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

had made this the centre of painting in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

, but the previous centre of Bruges retained considerable prestige. He was believed by

Georges Hulin de Loo Georges Hulin de Loo (10 December 1862, in Ghent – 27 December 1945, in Brussels) was a Belgian art historian specialising in Early Netherlandish art. He was educated in his home city of Ghent where he attended high school and university, earnin ...

to be the same person as the anonymous ''Master of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin'' or ''Pseudo-Mostaert''. Other art historians doubt that any works can be reliably attributed to him, and the number of paintings attributed to him by major museums has been in decline for many decades.

Personal life

There are only a few documentary records of his life, and some mentions in literature from the artist's lifetime or soon after. Even so, there are no documents which link him as the creator of any surviving works. It is possible that he was born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

around 1490. It is not known where or with which painter he served his apprenticeship. He is named for the first time in 1510, when he came to Bruges and bought his burghership. In November of the same year he became master in the local painters' Guild of St. Luke and the

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

s' guild of St. Elooi. He was later elected nine times as a "deacon" (in Old Dutch : ''vinder'') and twice as the governor (in Old Dutch : ''gouverneur'' = treasurer) of the guild. He quickly established an important workshop, probably in the ''Korte Vlaminckstraat'' in Bruges. This was close to the workshop of

Gerard David Gerard David (c. 1460 – 13 August 1523) was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color. Only a bare outline of his life survives, although some facts are known. He may have been the Meester ...

, at the ''Vlamijncbrugghe'' and the former workshop of

Hans Memling Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a painter active in Flanders, who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. He was born in the Middle Rhine region and probably spent his childhood in Mainz. He ...

. Bruges, at that time, was one of the richest towns in Europe. Rich traders and merchants ordered diptychs and portraits for personal use. Isenbrandt painted mainly for private clients. However, there were some paintings that were created without any particular commission. He had enough work to even put out work to other painters in Bruges, as a legal suit from 1534 by Isenbrandt against Jan van Eyck (not the famous one) for non-delivery of paintings he had ordered, demonstrates. He was also appointed the agent in Bruges of the painter

Adriaan Provoost Adriaan is the Dutch language, Dutch and Afrikaans spelling of the given name Adrian. Before the 19th century the spelling Adriaen was also common, and people used the spelling interchangeably. Adriaan may refer to: People Artists *Adriaen Backe ...

(son of

Jan Provoost Jan Provoost, or Jean Provost, or Jan Provost (1462/65 – January 1529) was a Belgian painter born in Mons. Provost was a prolific master who left his early workshop in Valenciennes to run two workshops, one in Bruges, where he was made a burghe ...

), who had moved to Antwerp in 1530. Contemporary sources therefore mention Isenbrandt as a famous and well-to-do painter. He married twice, the first time with Maria Grandeel, daughter of the painter

Peter Grandeel Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

. They had one child. After her death in 1537, he married again with Clementine de Haerne with whom he was married by 1543. This second marriage resulted in two daughters and a son. He also had an extramarital daughter with the innkeeper Katelijne van Brandenburch (who was at the same the mistress of the painter

Ambrosius Benson Ambrosius Benson (, in Ferrara or Milan1550, in Flanders) was an Italian painter who became a part of the Northern Renaissance. While many surviving paintings have been attributed, there is very little known of him from records, and he tended no ...

). When he died, at

, in 1551, he was buried alongside his first wife at the cemetery of the St. Jacob church there; his children inherited no less than four houses with surrounding property.

Professional life

Albert Cornelis - The Magdalen in a Landscape - Google Art Project

Along with

Albert Cornelis Albert Cornelis (c.1475 – 4 September 1532) was a 16th-century Flemish Renaissance painter.Albert Cornelis
in t ...

(before 1513–1531) and

(before 1518–1550), a painter from

Lombardy (man), (woman) lmo, lumbard, links=no (man), (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , ...

, he worked in the workshop of Bruges' leading painter

, while he was already a master at that time. Isenbrandt is mentioned in the book ''De Gandavensibus et Brugensibus eruditionis laude claris libri duo'' by the priest

Antonius Sanderus Antonius Sanderus (Antwerp, 15 September 1586 – Affligem, 10 January 1664) was a Flemish Catholic cleric and historian. Biography Sanderus was born "Antoon Sanders", but like all writers and scholars of his time he Latinized his name. Having b ...

, published in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1624. This writer refers to texts of the Florentine

Lodovico Guicciardini Lodovico Guicciardini (19 August 1521 – 22 March 1589) was an Italian writer and merchant from Florence who lived primarily in Antwerp from 1542 or earlier. He was the nephew of historian and diplomat Francesco Guicciardini. ''Description of ...

, the Schilderboeck of

Karel van Mander Karel van Mander (I) or Carel van Mander I (May 1548 – 2 September 1606) was a Flemish painter, poet, art historian and art theoretician, who established himself in the Dutch Republic in the latter part of his life. He is mainly remembere ...

and the (lost) notes of the Ghent jurist Dionysius Hardwijn (or Harduinus, 1530–1604). The latter, who had spent several years in Bruges about 1550, mentions Isenbrandt as a disciple of the old Gerard David, who excelled "in nudes and in portraits". He may have travelled to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

in 1511 together with Joachim Patinir and Gerard David. The influence of Gerard David shows clearly in the composition and the landscape background of the works attributed to Isenbrandt. In his critical exhibition catalogue of Early Flemish Masters in Bruges in 1902, the

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...

great connoisseur of early Flemish Art and art historian Georges Hulin de Loo, came to the conclusion that Isenbrandt was actually the anonymous ''Master of the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin'' and the author of a large body of paintings previously attributed to Gerard David and

Jan Mostaert Jan Mostaert (c. 1475 – 1552/1553) was a Dutch Renaissance painter who is known mainly for his religious subjects and portraits. One of his most famous creations was the ''Landscape with an Episode from the Conquest of America''. There are ve ...

by the German art historian

Gustav Friedrich Waagen Gustav Friedrich Waagen (11 February 1794 – 15 July 1868) was a German art historian. His opinions were greatly respected in England, where he was invited to give evidence before the royal commission inquiring into the condition and future o ...

. He is therefore sometimes called the Pseudo-Mostaert. Even if this attribution to Isenbrandt cannot be proven without doubt, it is now generally accepted by some art historians, although many others regard Isenbrandt as a convenient label for a body of work by many different artists. No surviving painting can be firmly documented as by Isenbrandt. A document stating that he sent some paintings from Antwerp to Spain shows that worked for export as well as the local market, and suggests his international reputation. Two paintings usually associated with him are dated, both in 1518 : *''Portrait of Paulus de Nigro'' (Groeninge Museum, Bruges) (1518) *The ''Bröhmse'' triptych with the ''Adoration by the Magi''. This was his most monumental work, but it was destroyed in 1942 when the Marienkirche in Lübeck was bombed. For Max J. Friedländer, this was the key work to be used in establishing his style. One of his first paintings (c. 1518–1521) was the "Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, adored by the family Van de Velde", a diptych that can be seen in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges and its left panel in the

Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (french: Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België) are a group of art museums in Brussels, Belgium. They include six museums: the Oldmasters Mus ...

, Brussels. It was common practice for major artists, such as Isenbrandt, to paint only the major parts of his paintings, such as faces and the flesh parts of his figures. His faces and flesh areas are set apart by brown

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compou ...

. The background was then filled in by assistants. The end quality of a work depended largely on the quality of the execution and the competency of the assistants, leading to an uneven quality of his works. These assistants also painted, as this was common practice in those times, many versions of the "Madonna and Child", that were then attributed to Isenbrandt, giving him the reputation of having had an enormous body of work. The exhibition in Bruges of

in 1902 showed therefore a large collection of his works. Unlike many contemporary colleagues, he is only documented with one assistant, Cornelis van Callenberghe, who joined his workshop in 1520. In 1520 he worked, together with

Albert Cornelis Albert Cornelis (c.1475 – 4 September 1532) was a 16th-century Flemish Renaissance painter.Albert Cornelis
in t ...

and

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

into Bruges. His paintings are executed meticulously and with great refinement. His figures are painted in warmer tones and more lively colours, than the works of Gerard David. Especially the flaming red or the dark blue set against an idyllic background of a lush, hilly landscape with castles situated on top of a vertical rock (typical for Isenbrandt), sinuous rivers and thick-leaved trees (showing the influence of Gerard David). He not only copied the compositions of Gerard David, but also from older painters such as

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. A ...

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440 – 1482) was one of the most significant and original Early Netherlandish painting, Flemish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduce ...

and

. He borrowed compositions from

Jan Gossaert Jan Gossaert (c. 1478 – 1 October 1532) was a French-speaking painter from the Low Countries also known as Jan Mabuse (the name he adopted from his birthplace, Maubeuge) or Jennyn van Hennegouwe ( Hainaut), as he called himself when he matri ...

(leading to the confusion with this painter) and drawings from

Albrecht Dürer Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...

and

Martin Schongauer Martin Schongauer (c. 1450–53, Colmar – 2 February 1491, Breisach), also known as Martin Schön ("Martin beautiful") or Hübsch Martin ("pretty Martin") by his contemporaries, was an Alsatian engraver and painter. He was the most important ...

. Such borrowing from older compositions was the order of the day and common practice. Nevertheless, the paintings of Adriaen Isenbrandt retain their individuality. He also painted some portraits, such as the portrait of Paulus de Nigro (Groeninge Museum, Bruges ), "Man weighing gold" (1515–1520) (Metropolitan Museum, New York ) and "Young Man with a Rosary" (Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, California ). These portraits, even if they are stereotypical and lifeless, are executed with a soft touch and

sfumato Sfumato (, ) is a painting technique for softening the transition between colours, mimicking an area beyond what the human eye is focusing on, or the out-of-focus plane. It is one of the canonical painting modes of the Renaissance. Leonardo da V ...

effect in the contours. The influence of the Italian Renaissance can be seen in the detailed addition of fashionable scenery elements such as

volute A volute is a spiral, scroll-like ornament that forms the basis of the Ionic order, found in the capital of the Ionic column. It was later incorporated into Corinthian order and Composite column capitals. Four are normally to be found on an Ion ...

s, antique pillars and ram's heads, such as in his painting of the "

Mass of Saint Gregory The Mass of Saint Gregory is a subject in Roman Catholic art which first appears in the late Middle Ages and was still found in the Counter-Reformation. Pope Gregory I (c. 540–604) is shown saying Mass just as a vision of Christ as the ''Man of ...

the Great" ( J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles ). and "Mary and Child" (1520–1530) (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam ). Through these elements he may be regarded as a precursor of the Renaissance painter

Lanceloot Blondeel Lancelot Blondeel, also Lanceloot (1498 – 4 March 1561), was a Flemish painter, designer of sculptures, tapestries and jewelry, architect, city planner, surveyor and cartographer who was active in Bruges.Ambrosius Benson Ambrosius Benson (, in Ferrara or Milan1550, in Flanders) was an Italian painter who became a part of the Northern Renaissance. While many surviving paintings have been attributed, there is very little known of him from records, and he tended no ...

(c. 1495–1550), a painter from

who emigrated to Bruges. He may have introduced the sfumato technique to Isenbrandt. Together with Benson, Isenbrandt belongs to a generation overlapping and succeeding the generation of Gerard David and

Selected works

Many works are now in the collections of the major museums of the world, such as: *''Virgin and Child'' (Museu Nacional Machado de Castro, Coimbra, 1505–1510) *''Virgin and Child Enthroned'' (Private collection) (1510s) *Triptych of the ''Presentation of Jesus at the Temple'' ( Sint-Salvator Cathedral, Bruges) *Triptych with ''St. Jerome, St. Catherine and the Magdalen'' (Kunsthalle, Hamburg) (1510–1520) *''Madonna and Child with a member of the Hillensberger family'' (

Lowe Art Museum Lowe Art Museum is the art museum of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The museum is located on the campus of the University of Miami and is accessible by Miami Metrorail at University Station. Lowe Art Museum's comprehensive col ...

, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida) *''Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows'' (

Church of Our Lady, Bruges , image = Church Of Our Lady Bruges.jpg , imagesize = 250 , caption = Church of Our Lady , location = Bruges , country = Belgium , coordinates = , denomination ...

) (c. 1518) *''The Magdalen in a landscape'' (

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

) (1515–1520)National Gallery, London
/ref> *''Portrait of Paulus de Nigro'' (

Groeningemuseum The Groeningemuseum is a municipal museum in Bruges, Belgium, built on the site of the medieval Eekhout Abbey. It houses a collection of Flemish and Belgian painting covering six centuries, from Jan van Eyck to Marcel Broodthaers. The museum ...

, Bruges) (1518) *''Virgin and Child'' (

Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest) The Museum of Fine Arts ( hu, Szépművészeti Múzeum �seːpmyveːsɛti ˈmuːzɛum is a museum in Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary, facing the Palace of Art. It was built by the plans of Albert Schickedanz and Fülöp Herzog in an eclecti ...

) (1520s) *''Rest during the Flight to Egypt'' (

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinak ...

, Munich) *''Rest during the Flight to Egypt'' (Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent) (1520–1530) *''Rest during the Flight to Egypt'' (

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

, Vienna) (1520–1530) *''Rest during the Flight to Egypt'' (

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

, Dublin) (1520–1530) *''Rest during the Flight to Egypt'' ( Koninklijke Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp) (1520–1530/40) *''Crucifixion'' (

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

) (c. 1525) *''Crucifixion'' church of Noddebo, Fredensborg, Seeland (Copenhague) (1515–1521) (follower of Isenbrandt) *''The Madonna Nursing the Infant Christ'' (

Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is the region's primary resource for culture and visual arts. It is located in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building in Salt Lake City, Utah on the University of Utah campus near Rice-Eccles Stadium. Works ...

, Salt Lake City) (ca. 1530–1535) *''Madonna and Child with cherub musicians'' (

San Diego Museum of Art The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located at 1450 El Prado in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Galler ...

, California) (1540) *''Gethsemane'' ( Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte, Dortmund) (1530–1540) *''Archangel St Michael, St Andrew and St Francis of Assisi'' (

) *'' Mass of St Gregory'' (

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

, Madrid) *''The Magdalen'' (

, Madrid) *''Triptych'' (

, Bruges) *''The Deposition'' (

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

at the University of Oxford,) *''Virgin and Child'' ( Fondation Bemberg Museum, Toulouse, France) *''Saints and donors'' (diptych) ( Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina) *''St Peter and donor'' (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) *''Image of a woman'' (Galleria Doria Pamphili, Rome) *''Mary and Child'' (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) *''Adoration by the Magi'' (

, Munich) *''Beata Virgo inter Virgines'' (

, Munich) (copy after Gerard David) *Triptych with the ''Assumption of Mary'' (

Musée de Cluny The Musée de Cluny ("Cluny Museum", ), also known as Musée national du Moyen Âge – Thermes et hôtel de Cluny ("National Museum of the Middle Ages – Cluny thermal baths and mansion"), is a museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, Fr ...

, Paris) (1520–1530 ?) *''Donor with the saints Peter and Paul'' (Private collection, London) *''Birth of Christ'' (Öffentliche Kunstsammlung, Kunstmuseum, Basel) (1520–1530) *''Birth of Christ'' ( Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp) (1530–1550) *''Our Lady enthroned in a niche'' (

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...

, Amsterdam) *''St Jerome'' (Private collection, London) (1560–1570) (by follower of Adriaen Isenbrandt or Ambrosius Benson) No longer attributed to him by the owners: *''Rest during the Flight to Egypt'' (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) (1520) *''The Entombment'' (

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, London) (about 1550)

Notes

References

*E. Benezit – Dictionnaire des Paintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et graveurs, Librairie Gründ, Paris, 1976 (in French) *Turner, J. –

Grove Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

– Oxford University Press, USA; New Ed edition (2 January 1996); *

Till-Holger Borchert Till-Holger Borchert (born 4 January 1967, in Hamburg) is a German art historian and writer specialising in 14th and 15th-century art. He has been the chief curator of the Groeningemuseum and Arentshuis museums in Bruges, Belgium, between 2003 and ...

– "Adriaan Isenbrant" in the catalogue of the exhibition "Bruges and the Renaissance"; Bruges, 15 August-6 December 1998;
Isenbrant, Adriaen
at the National Gallery, Washington D.C.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Isenbrandt, Adriaen 15th-century births 1551 deaths Flemish Renaissance painters Early Netherlandish painters Painters from Bruges Catholic painters