Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

This innovative book presents a fresh view of fifteenth-century Netherlandish art and the significance of its contributions to contemporary Italian art, notably in such areas as oil painting, landscape, and portraiture. Focusing on Florence, a prime center of Renaissance culture, the book explores for the first time the profound impact of Netherlandish works on Italian painters including Leonardo, Perugino, and Ghirlandaio.

Paula Nuttall discusses Italian ownership of Netherlandish paintings in the fifteenth century and the shared artistic concerns of Florentine and Netherlandish painters. She examines in depth the various means by which artistic contact occurred, the growth in demand for Netherlandish art in Florence, and the holdings of the Medici and other collectors. With particular emphasis on the period 1460#150;1500, when the vogue for Netherlandish painting was at its height, the author shows that the consequences of Italian exposure to Netherlandish art were far more sweeping than has been understood before.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part 1 Contexts
• 1 Common Ground: Netherlandish ars nova and Florentine Renaissance, 1420-1450 (p. 9)
• 2 'Speaking of Flemish Things': Italian Perceptions of Netherlandish Painting (p. 31)
• Part 2 Contacts
• 3 The Florentine Colony in Bruges (p. 43)
• 4 Florentine Patrons in Bruges (p. 53)
• 5 The Process of Purveying (p. 77)
• 6 Northern Artists in Florence (p. 93)
• Part 3 Ownership
• 7 The Medici (p. 105)
• 8 Netherlandish Painting in the Florentine Ambit (p. 119)
• Part 4 Influence
• 9 Mechanics of Influence (p. 133)
• 10 Technique and Visual Effect (p. 161)
• 11 Pictorial Conquests (p. 193)
• 12 Devout and Beautiful Figures (p. 231)
• Appendices
• 1 Netherlandish Paintings Owned by the Medici (p. 254)
• 2 Netherlandish Paintings in Florentine Patrician Inventories (p. 258)
• 3 Paintings and Tapestries Recorded in the Pupilli Inventories, 1439-1510 (p. 261)
• Abbreviations (p. 263)
• Notes (p. 264)
• Bibliographical References (p. 293)
• Photograph Credits (p. 302)
• Index (p. 303)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

British art historian Nuttall developed her Ph.D. dissertation into this beautifully illustrated, scholarly work. It presents 15th-century artistic, cultural, and commercial interrelationships between the Low Countries famous for Flemish Gothic art and the city of Florence, renowned for its Italian art. Counter to the traditional view that Italian art so influenced northern Europe, Nuttall proposes just the opposite. Wealthy families like the Medici played a significant role in the patronage of Netherlandish artists, while Italian merchants in Bruges sent paintings back home. The particular Flemish style of depicting religious devotion and the exquisite oil technique of portraying sumptuous details of clothing and interiors directly impacted Italian artists. Religious painting had great importance in both the Netherlands and Italy at this time, and it is this genre that Nuttall studies, including the impressive altar pieces designed for Catholic churches. Portraiture skills are evident in the imaginary portrayals of heavenly figures as well as the realistic documentations of 15th-century donors. Landscape perspective provides earthly background settings for the religious scenes. Recommended for academic and art museum libraries.-Anne Marie Lane, Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

In this book's 12 well-crafted chapters, subdivided in four major parts, Nuttal, following Lorne Campell's lead in 1976, shows that documents on the Florentine-Bruges connection are not always incorporated in early modern art history. This emerges quite naturally out of the first section on the Florentine perception (and reception) of Netherlandish painting. The second part discusses the Florentine colony in Bruges. Here too, older material has been critically reexamined. The third section on the Medici acquisitions uses a subtle hermeneutic, one that makes the reader critically aware that Netherlandish painted cloths were a novelty in 15th-century Florence, partly due to their unfamiliar subject matter and design. This, in turn, was responsible for the increased use of cloth as support for domestic paintings in Florence. In the fourth section, the author convincingly demonstrates that, by 1500, Netherlandish painting had been thoroughly assimilated into the Florentine idiom. All this is supported by beautiful illustrations, an updated research bibliography, and appendixes with Netherlandish paintings in Florentine inventories, including the Medici, and paintings and tapestries in the Pupilli inventories (1439-1510). A splendid, well-researched book and a new benchmark in the field. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through professionals. H. J. Van Miegroet Duke University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Paula Nuttall teaches at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and at other U.K. institutions.