The Flemish Primitives. V. Anonymous Masters

In 1993 the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium launched an amhitious research programme in cooperation with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KULeuven) and the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL).The project encompasses the historical, iconographical, stylistic and technical study of the nearly one hundred Southern Netherlandish paintings of the 15th century owned by the museum. Right from the start, the project has been endorsed by the Federai Public Planning Service Science Policy. The results of the multidisciplinary research are being gathered in a fìve volume catalogue, volume V of which will be published in 2009.

The fifth volume examines ali the works painled by anonymous masters. Most works of the !5th and early lóth ccnturies are not signed. Several works have noi yet been attributed to a known paintcr or to a master with a provisionai Dame. These works. labelled as anonymous, have been little studied unti! now, because they are in general thought to be of lesser quality, and because researehers have prioritiscd the study of more important masiers. It is, however. becoming incrcasingly apparenl that these works rellect the ongoing production of the time in the Southern Netherlands. Bcside the faci Ihat these paintings represent the ihemcs that enjoyed a certain popularity at the time, their study opens perspectives onlo the socio-economie contexl and workshop practicc. These paintings could be destined for a broad market and demonstrate differenl working methods allowing for swift execution in several copies. Furthermore, two of these anonymous works, dating from around 1400 or a little bit latcr, rank amongst the rare represenlativcs of piclorial production in the Southern Netherlands prior to the technical innovations introduced by the Flemish Primitives. This production is by convention called "pre-Eyekian painting".
Like the four previous volumes, il is published in English and abundantly illustrated with colour photographs of (he investigated paintings, detail photographs and comparative material. Each of the thirteen paintings has becn submitted to exhaustive and detailcd cxamination following a scientific research method which has been fully cstablished over the years. This includes, on the one hand, examination of the supports and the originai frames, dendrochronological analysis, infrared reflcctography, stereomicroscopic obscrvation, radiographic analysis, ultraviolet fluo-rcsccncc imaging and, where possible, examination of paini samples and, on the other hand, historical. iconographic and stylislic analysis, dating. attribution and bibliography. Information is drawn from documents in the museunrs archives and supplemented with material held at the Royal Institute for the Study and Conservation of Belgium's Artistic Herilage (IRPA/KIK) and the Centre for the Study of Fifteenth-Century Painting in the Southern Netherlands and the Principality of Liège.

The publications in the series "The Flemish Primitivcs" of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium bave received enthusiastic criticai acciai m, both national and International. They are essential reference Works for both scholars and amateurs interested in 15th and 16th century early Nether-landish painting.