CONF: Artists Agents and Patrons from the Low Countries in the Iberian World (Brussels, 9 Dec 2022)

The Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) is organizing a study day to further clarify our understanding of the artistic exchanges and influences that took place between the Low Countries and the Iberian world during the 15th, 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries.

Free entrance, but registration is required: eventbrite.nl/e/artists-agents-and-patrons-from-the-low-countries-in-the-iberian-world-tickets-445945002507.

Traditionally, it is argued that from the 15th century onwards, Iberian art was transformed by the arrival of artists and art objects from the Low Countries. Numerous studies demonstrate the influence of great Flemish artists such as Jan Van Eyck, Michiel Coxcie, Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens. However, the contribution of less-known artists, agents and patrons who moved, worked and exchanged between these European regions and with Latin America has not yet been sufficiently covered in a comprehensive manner. Nor has the intermediary role of other Netherlandish migrants such as merchants, soldiers, courtiers and priests. Furthermore, this study day will reexamine the dynamics and models of cultural exchange between Netherlandish artists and the Iberian world, that is too often considered to have been produced in one direction only. It will address the impact of itinerant artists and the dissemination of ideas, styles and artworks, as well as the problems of migration and the transfer of materials, techniques, iconography, and production and commercial strategies. The study day will bring together international researchers from academic and scientific institutions in France, Poland, Spain and Belgium.

Presentations and discussion will take place in four different sections:

– Migrant artists for the court and the high nobility
– Netherlandish art in Iberia: an object-based approach 
– Agents, merchants and patrons 
– Spain and the Americas

The meeting will complement and nuance the traditional accounts of the artistic relations between the two territories, highlighting the complexity of the global interactions and exchanges that linked the Iberian world and the Low Countries to each other, but also to Europe and the rest of the world. Please find below the full programme of the conference.

The study day is organized by Eduardo Lamas (KIK-IRPA) in collaboration with Bart Fransen (KIK-IRPA), Géraldine Patigny (KIK-IRPA) and Valentine Henderiks (ULB), under the auspices of the Royal Academy of Archeology of Belgium (ARAB-KAOB) and the Belgian Committee for Art History. It has been made possible with the financial support of the Embassy of Spain to the Kingdom of Belgium. 

STUDY DAY PROGRAMME

9.00 – Onthaal / Accueil / Welcome 
9.30 – Inleiding / Présentation / Introduction | Valentine Henderiks (Université libre de Bruxelles)

Session 1: Migrant artists for the court and the high nobility

9.45 A Picard in Castile: Felipe Morros (Philippon Mauroux) as a painter and courtier of Isabella of Castile | Oskar Rojewski, University of Silesia

10.00 Jean Mone et l’Espagne | Géraldine Patigny, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage

10.15 The Cueman family: a stylistic dialogue between Brabant and Spain | Oliver Kik, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage

10.30 Discussie / Échanges / Discussion

10.45 Koffiepauze / Pause-café / Coffee break

Session 2: Flemish art in Iberia: an object-based approach

11.10 Ambrosius Benson et l’Espagne : la question du Maître de Ségovie | Sacha Zdanov, Université libre de Bruxelles

11.25 Dans l’entourage des Rois catholiques : le succès des modèles de Christ couronné d’épines boutsiens en Espagne | Thomas Unger, Université libre de Bruxelles

11.40 A Puzzle Piece from Juan de Flandes’s Altarpiece for the University Chapel in Salamanca | Bart Fransen, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage

11.55 Discussie / Échanges / Discussion

12.15 Middagpauze / Pause de midi

Session 3: Agents, merchants and patrons

14.00 El cardenal Granvella como agente de pintores flamencos en la Península ibérica | Almudena Pérez de Tudela, Patrimonio Nacional

14.15 Joan Gregori : marchand et agent d’Alphonse le Magnanime en Flandre | Elsa Espín, Musée du Louvre 14.30 The glass-maker Teodoro de Holanda | Ana Diéguez-Rodríguez, Universidad de Burgos/Instituto Moll

14.45 Discussie / Échanges / Discussion

15.00 Koffiepauze / Pause-café / Coffee break

Session 4: Spain and the Americas

15.25 The painter Simon Pereyns in Mexico | Reinout Reybrouck, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

16.40 Priest painters of Flemish origin in Spain and America: the case of Juan de Roelas | Eduardo Lamas, Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage

16.55 Discussie / Échanges / Discussion

17.10 Afsluiting van de zitting / Clôture des travaux / Closing remarks