Saturday, March 7, 2026

Quentin Matsys
(1466–1530)

Quentin Matsys was a Flemish painter in the Early Netherlandish tradition. He was born in Leuven. According to tradition, he trained as an ironsmith before becoming a painter. Matsys was active in Antwerp for over 20 years, creating numerous works with religious roots and satirical tendencies. He is regarded as the founder of the Antwerp school of painting, which became the leading school of painting in Flanders in the 16th century. He introduced new techniques and motifs as well as moralising subjects without completely breaking with tradition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Matsys


Altarpiece of the Joiners’ Guild
1511
oil on panel
260 x 503 cm
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/altarpiece-of-the-joiners-guild

Friday, March 6, 2026

Antonello da Messina
(C. 1425–1479)

Antonello da Messi, properly Antonello di Giovanni di Antonio, but also called Antonello degli Antoni and Anglicized as Anthony of Messina, was an Italian painter from Messina, active during the Italian Early Renaissance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonello_da_Messina


Calvary
1475
oil on panel
52.5 × 42.5 cm
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/calvary

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Hans Memling 
(c. 1430 - 1494)
 

Hans Memling was a German-Flemish painter who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. Born in the Middle Rhine region, he probably spent his childhood in Mainz. During his apprenticeship as a painter he moved to the Netherlands and spent time in the Brussels workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. In 1465 he was made a citizen of Bruges, where he became one of the leading artists and the master of a large workshop. A tax document from 1480 lists him among the wealthiest citizens. Memling's religious works often incorporated donor portraits of the clergymen, aristocrats, and burghers (bankers, merchants, and politicians) who were his patrons. These portraits built upon the styles which Memling learned in his youth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Memling

God the Father with Singing Angels
1483 -1494
Oil on panel
164 x 212
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/god-the-father-with-singing-angels

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Rogier van der Weyden 
(1399 - 1464)
 

Rogier van der Weyden, initially known as Roger de la Pasture, was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly successful in his lifetime; his paintings were exported to Italy and Spain, and he received commissions from, amongst others, Philip the Good, Netherlandish nobility, and foreign aristocrats. By the latter half of the 15th century, he had eclipsed Jan van Eyck in popularity. However his fame lasted only until the 17th century, and largely due to changing taste, he was almost totally forgotten by the mid-18th century. His reputation was slowly rebuilt during the 200 years that followed; today he is known, with Robert Campin and van Eyck, as the third (by birth date) of the three great Early Netherlandish artists (Vlaamse Primitieven or "Flemish Primitives"), and widely as the most influential Northern painter of the 15th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogier_van_der_Weyden

The Seven Sacraments
1440 - 1445
Oil on panel
200 x 223 cm
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/the-seven-sacraments

Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Jean Fouquet
(1420 - 1481)

Jean (or Jehan) Fouque was a French painter and miniaturist. A master of panel painting and manuscript illumination, and the apparent inventor of the portrait miniature, he is considered one of the most important painters from the period between the late Gothic and early Renaissance. He was the first French artist to travel to Italy and experience first-hand the early Italian Renaissance. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Fouquet


Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim
C. 1450
Oil on panel
92 cm x 83.5 cm 
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/madonna-surrounded-by-seraphim-and-cherubim

Monday, March 2, 2026

Jan van Eyck
(1390 - 1441)

Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the supreme figures of the Early Northern Renaissance. Such was his legacy, that he has been called “the inventor of oil-painting” by Vasari, Ernst Gombrich, and others, although this claim is now considered an oversimplification. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_van_Eyck

Saint Barbara
1437
Oil on Panel
32 x 18.2 cm
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/saint-barbara

Sunday, March 1, 2026

 Simone Martini 
(1284 - 1344)
 

Simone Martini was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simone_Martini

The Annunciation
1320 - 1330
tempera and gold leaf on panel
23 x 14 cm
KMSKA, Antwerpen
https://kmska.be/en/masterpiece/the-annunciation-1

Quentin Matsys (1466–1530) Quentin Matsys was a Flemish painter in the Early Netherlandish tradition. He was born in Leuven. According to tr...