The Low Countries were a major contributor to the Northern Renaissance. Discover how the development of the oil medium took precedence as Flemish Renaissance painters perfected the skill of oil painting in the fifteenth century and the world of art changed.
These painters presented a world of robust and realistically detailed images, created with jewel-like colours. Close observation of nature and slow-drying pigments allowed artists to portray faces and landscape with a greater realism than before, where portraits moved from a symbolic treatment to a likeness of the sitter; interiors showed a myriad of expensive furnishings and artefacts never seen previously. Trade in the affluent cities of Bruges and Ghent prompted wealthy merchants to commission work on a large scale for churches and smaller images for personal use.
Alice Foster will explore the work of Jan van Eyck, Roger van der Weyden, Hans Memling, Hugo van der Goes, Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Quentin Massys. She will place their contribution to Renaissance art in the wider context of European trade and prosperity.
This event will close for enrolment at 23:59 BST on 22 October 2024.