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Carel ManderPoet, writer and artist from West Flanders.
Country:
 Netherlands |
Content:
- Carel van Mander: Life and Work
- Travels and Artistic Career
- Harlem Period and Academy
- "Schilder-Boeck"
- Inspiration and Influence
Carel van Mander: Life and Work
Early Life and ApprenticeshipCarel van Mander was born in 1548 in Meulebeke, West Flanders. He apprenticed with the Ghent painter and poet Lucas de Heere by 1568.
Travels and Artistic Career
In 1570, van Mander returned to Meulebeke and pursued writing and poetry. In 1573, he traveled to Italy, visiting Florence and Terni. In Terni, he received a commission for a fresco depicting the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Parts of this fresco in the Palazzo Spada have survived.
In Rome, van Mander became acquainted with Bartholomeus Spranger. In 1577, he worked in Basel, then moved to Krems and Vienna, where he collaborated with Hans Mont on a triumphal arch for the arrival of Emperor Rudolf II in July 1577.
After visiting Nuremberg, van Mander returned to Meulebeke but was forced to flee due to religious persecution of the Mennonites, to which his family belonged. He settled in Haarlem, where he lived for 20 years.
Harlem Period and Academy
In Haarlem, van Mander co-founded a painters' academy with Dutch artist Cornelis Cornelisz. Frans Hals was among his students in Haarlem.
"Schilder-Boeck"
In 1604, van Mander published his most famous work, the "Schilder-Boeck" ("Book of Artists"). It was the first art history treatise in Northern Europe. The first part was a verse commentary on painting, discussing artistic principles.
The second part contained biographies of ancient and Italian painters, including Giotto di Bondone, Sandro Botticelli, and Andrea Mantegna. Dutch and German artists such as Geertgen tot Sint Jans, Rogier van der Weyden, Lucas van Leyden, Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Dürer, and Hans Holbein the Younger were also included.
Inspiration and Influence
Van Mander's biographical research was inspired by Giorgio Vasari's collection of biographies of painters. The third part of the "Schilder-Boeck" provided a detailed commentary on Ovid's "Metamorphoses," a major source for mythological subjects in Dutch painting.
