Jan Gossaert: 8 works

'Jan Gossaert set the figures in an inventive complex of pseudo-antique architecture, indicating his general awareness of Italian styles, probably gained through prints from Italy, which often circulated in Northern Europe, rather than from actual experience.'

'Gossaert used the bright colour and highly detailed oil painting technique of his 15th-century Netherlandish predecessors to sophisticated effect.'

'Gossaert had accompanied his patron to Rome in 1508, where he drew ancient buildings and sculptures for him.'

'He remained in the Eternal City for several months, a period that he took advantage of by eagerly studying the sculpture and architecture of classical antiquity, as evidenced by a drawing of the Colosseum (Berlin, Museum of Prints and Drawings), among others. Probably he had the privilege of viewing works that Michelangelo and Raphael had created for the Vatican.'

'The "Portrait of a Man" by Gossaert would appear to be of the Portuguese humanist and historian Damia de Goes (1501-1573), who lived in Italy.'

'Gossaert's portrait shows a merchant seated in a cramped yet cozy space, surrounded by the tools of his trade.'

'Gossaert's portraits with inner depth Portraits with inner depth in the depictions of persons gained ground with the Italian Renaissance, a movement that Gossaert had ample opportunities to familiarise himself with and communicate to wider audiences north of the Alps.'

'As an artist to several courts, Jan Gossaert traveled widely throughout Europe and became one of the first painters to disseminate the Italian Renaissance style in the Netherlands.'