Written by the poet-painter Karel van Mander, who finished it in June 1603, the Grondt der edel, vry schilderconst (Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting) was the first systematic treatise on schilderconst (the art of painting / picturing) to be published in Dutch (Haarlem: Paschier van Wes[t]busch, 1604). This English-language edition of the Grondt, accompanied by an introductory monograph and a full critical apparatus, provides unprecedented access to Van Mander’s crucially important art treatise. The book sheds light on key terms and critical categories such as schilder, manier,...

This book is about the Dominican church in Antwerp (today St Paul’s). It is structured around three works of art, made or procured by Peter Paul Rubens: the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary cycle (in situ), Caravaggio’s Rosary Madonna (Vienna) and the Wrath of Christ high altarpiece (Lyon). Within the artist’s lifetime, the church and monastery were completely rebuilt, creating one of the most spectacular sacred spaces in Northern Europe. In this richly illustrated book, Adam Sammut reconceptualises early modern churches as theatres of political economy, advancing an original approach to...

Whereas entire libraries discuss the religious and political history of the sixteenth century in Northern Europe, focused on the Reformation and the rise of nation-states, Larry Silver uniquely traces the dramatic, even traumatic changes of the Reformation era discernible in the visual arts, especially paintings and the new medium of prints. Among the subjects and themes he explores are the destruction of church images, witchcraft, reactions to new voyages of exploration, and issues of vision itself in an age when moral codes and the nature of sin and death were being re-examined.