''Early Netherlandish Painting'' (German: ''Die altniederländische Malerei'') is a pioneering 14-volume series of illustrated books by the German art historian
Max Jakob Friedländer (1867–1958). The first volume was published in 1924, and the series ran until 1937. It was the first comprehensive modern art-historical survey of
Early Netherlandish painting,
[The painters are sometimes known as the Flemish Primitives] a term often used in art history to describe artists of the
Low Countries during the 15th- and 16th-century
Northern Renaissance.
Friedländer developed an interest in northern art of the period while director of the
Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The collection included a large selection of Flemish paintings, including
Jan van Eyck's ''
Madonna in the Church
''Madonna in the Church'' (or ''The Virgin in the Church'') is a small oil panel by the early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck. Probably executed between c. 1438–1440, it depicts the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus in a Gothic cathedra ...
'',
Rogier van der Weyden's ''
Miraflores Altarpiece
''The Miraflores Altarpiece'' (or ''Triptych of the Virgin'', or ''The Altar of Our Lady'' or the ''Mary Altarpiece'') is a c. 1442-5 oil-on-oak wood panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, in the Gemäldegaleri ...
'' and ''
Altar of Saint John
The ''St John Altarpiece'' (German - ''Johannesaltar'', ''Johannestafel'' or ''Johannesretabel'') is a c. 1455 oil-on-oak wood panel altarpiece by the Early Netherlandish painter Rogier van der Weyden, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. The trip ...
'', and
Hugo van der Goes' ''
Adoration of the Maji''. Friedländer was struck by the lack of biographical detail on even the most accomplished of the artists, some of whom were still identified by
notnames, the sometimes poorly supported attributions, and general historical neglect.
[McNamee (1998), vii]
The book focuses on establishing biographical details for the painters, attributing individual works, and detailing their major stylistic themes and techniques. The undertaking was extremely difficult, given the scant historical record of even the most significant artists.
[Silver (1986), 518]
The series was a major influence on
Erwin Panofsky's equally seminal ''
Early Netherlandish Painting'', which expanded on Friedländer's biographical and stylistic analysis to focus on
iconography and historical context.
References
Notes
Sources
* McNamee, Maurice. ''Vested Angels: Eucharistic Allusions in Early Netherlandish Paintings''. Peeters Publishers, 1998.
* Silver, Larry. "The State of Research in Northern European Art of the Renaissance Era". ''
The Art Bulletin'', Volume 68, No. 4, 1986
{{refend
External links
All 14 volumes online or for free download
Art history books
Case studies
Friedländer