Lives. Artists in the pen of Karel van Mander

09 Oct 2025 - 11 Jan 2026
Museum of Modern Art
Lucas Gassel, Rest of the Holy Family on the Flight to Egypt, 2nd quarter of the 16th century. Archbishopric of Olomouc
Lucas Gassel, Rest of the Holy Family on the Flight to Egypt
With a certain exaggeration, the exhibition of Dutch painting of the 15th and 16th centuries at the Olomouc Museum of Art will be co-authored by one of the artists of the time - Karel van Mander (1548-1606). He was one of the most renowned Dutch painters of his time and still is today. His works are part of the exhibitions of older Dutch art in the world's major museums and galleries. He is, however, absolutely exceptional as the author of Het Schilder-boeck (The Book of Painters), first published in 1604, in which he provided key information about the lives and works of his predecessors and contemporaries.

“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 Het Schilder-boeck was and still is the basis for scholarly work by art historians, without losing its appeal to the general public. The book has been translated into most European and some non-European languages. However, it was translated into Czech thanks to the translators Zuzana Henešová and Ivana Svobodová, together with art historian Miroslav Kindl, they have prepared a Czech edition for the Argo publishing house to be published in October this year.

“Reading about Dutch painting and its prominent personalities is primarily a source of detailed facts about the artistic production of that era, but at the same time it gives an insight into the everyday lives of individuals from the artistic fields and the whole society, which makes the texts a truly entertaining read,” says Zuzana Henešová.


EXHIBITION: Lives. Artists through the pen of Karel van Mander

  • DATE: 9 OCTOBER – 11 JANUARY 2026
  • PLACE: Museum of Modern Art
  • AUTHOR: Miroslav Kindl
  • CURATORS: Gabriela Elbelová, Miroslav Kindl