Lives. Artists from the pen of Karel van Mander

Karel van Mander, Triumph of Love – Amor omnibus idem, around 1602, oil on wood. National Heritage Institute, Duchcov State Chateau

“The exhibition and the selection of artists will follow the narrative of van Mander’s publication,” says curator Miroslav Kindl. “Through paintings, drawings, prints and books, it will present not only important works of Dutch painting from the 15th and 16th centuries, but also the principles of early modern art collecting and the intellectual world of the early monographers.”

Visitors will thus see the top works of the Dutch Renaissance from Europe’s leading museums and galleries by artists such as Rogier van der Weyden, Jan Gossaert, Quentin Massijs, Jan Brueghel Sr, Jan van Scorel, Frans Floris, Bartholomeus Spranger, Cornelis van Haarlem and other artists mentioned by van Mander and often known thanks to him. However, this will not only be a showcase of important authors, but also a probe into the social, cultural and literary history of the early modern period, sketched with the help of excerpts from book texts and graphic displays.

Karl van Mander gained experience in Italy in his youth, but on his return, like thousands of other non-Catholics, he was forced to leave his native Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) for exile in the newly forming Protestant United Provinces of the Netherlands. In the prosperous city of Haarlem he then became one of the most important movers and influencers of intellectual and cultural life. In addition to painting, he translated from French, wrote poems, songs and plays. However, he is best known as the ‘Dutch Vasari’, as he was inspired to write the Book of Painters by the Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), who published an encyclopaedia of the best local painters, sculptors and architects of Italy in 1550.

THE FIRST TRANSLATION INTO czech

Van Mander’s work Het Schilder-Boeck was and still is the basis for the professional work of art historians, without losing its appeal to the lay public. The book has been translated into most European and some non-European languages. It is only now being published in Czech thanks to translators from Dutch – Zuzana Henešová and Ivana Svobodová, with expert commentary by art historian Miroslav Kindl. Together, they have prepared the Czech edition of van Mander’s fourth book, dedicated to Dutch and German painters, for the Argo publishing house.

“Reading about Dutch painting and its prominent figures is primarily a source of detailed facts about the art of the time, but it also provides a glimpse into the everyday lives of individuals in the arts and society as a whole, which makes the texts truly engaging reading,” said Zuzana Henešová.