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Man, Myth,
and Sensual Pleasures:
Jan Gossart's Renaissance
October 5, 2010 – January 16, 2011
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
February 16 – May 22, 2011
The National Gallery in London
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The famed Italian politician and historian
Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540) noted in his 1537-40 Storia
d'Italia that Jan of Hainault (Jan Gossart) was
the first to bring the art of representing historical
and poetic subjects with life-sized nude figures from
Italy to the countries of northern Europe. If not the first artist
to do so, he certainly was the key adherent and promoter
of this new mode that he initially encountered on a
trip to Rome in 1508 with the important court diplomat
Philip of Burgundy. For those painters and their patrons
rooted in the traditional styles and themes of the
late Gothic period, the new style inspired by the art
of classical antiquity must have appeared shockingly
avant-garde. For the Humanists of the time, Gossart
was the first truly Renaissance painter in the north.
Yet, Gossart’s style was a hybridization of
Italianate and Netherlandish styles. He never abandoned
his training in the northern craft tradition, which
endeavored to achieve verisimilitude and a sense of
heightened illusion in painting. Through his exquisite
handling and execution in paint, Gossart emulated
the splendid artistic tradition of Jan van Eyck. |
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This exhibition will be on view at The Metropolitan
Museum of Art from October 5, 2010 – January 16, 2011 and at the
National Gallery in London from February 16 – May 22, 2011. It
will treat Gossart’s paintings, drawings, and prints in
the context of the works of other artists who influenced Gossart
and who he, in turn, influenced. This will include sculpture,
paintings, prints, and drawings by artists such as van Eyck,
David, Bening, Dürer, de’Barbari, Raimondi, Meit,
Van Orley, Vellert, and Van Leyden among others. The exhibition
will follow Gossart’s development from the late Gothic
to Renaissance to Mannerist modes in his mythological and religious
paintings, and it will highlight his achievements in portraiture.
Around 140 works from national and international museums and
private collections – some of them rarely seen before – will
comprise what promises to be a visually stunning exhibition about
this leading master of the northern Renaissance in art.
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The Society of Friends of Belgium
in America operates under the auspices of
the Ambassador of Belgium to the United States and the Consul General
of Belgium in New York. |
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