Juan de Flandes (John of Flanders, c. 1460 - 1519) was an Early Netherlandish painter who was active in Spain from 1496-1519; his actual name is unknown, although an inscription Juan Astrat on the back of one work suggests a name such as "Jan van der Straat". Jan Sallaert, who became a master in Ghent in 1480, has also been suggested.
- Life and works
He was born around 1460 in Flanders (modern Belgium). He evidently trained in his home country, most likely in Ghent, as his work shows similarities to that of Joos van Wassenhove, Hugo van der Goes and other Ghent artists.
He is only documented after he became an artist at the court of Queen Isabella I of Castile, where he is first mentioned in the accounts in 1496.
He is described as "court painter" by 1498 and continued in the queen's service until her death in 1504. He mostly painted portraits of the royal family, but also the majority of a large series of small (21.3x16.7cm) panels for a polyptych altarpiece for the queen. The panels have been dispersed and the largest number of panels is in the royal collection in Madrid.
After Isabella's death in 1504 Juan de Flandes turned to ecclesiastical commissions from Spanish churches, beginning in Salamanca in 1505-7. He was later based in Palencia, where there is a large reredos in the Cathedral. In Palencia his wife was described as a widow in December 1519.
The overwhelming majority of his work held in collections outside Spain dates from this later period during which he concentrated on religious themes. Panels from a large altarpiece from a Palencian church are divided between the Prado and National Gallery of Art, Washington, who have four panels each.
His works show the Early Netherlandish style of Ghent adapted to the Spanish taste and landscape, notably the requirements for groups of compartmented scenes for altarpieces. His colouring is refined, "with a preference for rather acid hues", and "while his feeling for space and light is sophisticated, a tendency to divide space into a succession of thin planes becomes a mannerism in his late works". | © Wikipedia
Juan de Flandes (Gand, 1450 circa - Palencia, 1519) è stato un pittore Fiammingo, ma attivo in Spagna dal 1496 fino alla sua morte, rappresentando uno dei maggiori artisti rinascimentali ⎆ spagnoli.
Si fa appartenere alla scuola di Giusto di Gand e dopo aver girovagato per l'Italia giunge nella penisola iberica dove sarà al servizio di Isabella la Cattolica estimatrice dell'arte fiamminga.
Infatti come aspetto caratterizzante della pittura di de Flandes abbiamo la minuziosa cura dei particolari con studio sulla luminosità ed i colori che creavano immagini molto delicate, oltreché un'ottima padronanza disegnativa e prospettica.
Alla corte della regina di Castiglia esegue un retablo con scene della vita di Cristo ed un polittico composto di quarantasei tavole, ma di cui oggi ne rimangono solamente ventisette (quindici di queste sono conservate nel Palazzo reale di Madrid). Le dimensioni di queste tavole sono molto ridotte circa 20 X 15 cm, quindi questo fatto lo lega molto alle produzioni fiamminghe le quali comunque stupiscono sempre per la loro tecnica miniaturistica.
Alla morte della regina si trasferisce a Palencia dove rimarrà fino alla sua morte, anche se trascorrerà un breve soggiorno nella città di Salamanca dove realizza l' "Altare di San Michele" nella cattedrale vecchia e l'altare maggiore nella cappella universitaria.
Dal momento che nella Spagna di quel periodo erano permessi dipingere solo immagini sacre e ritratti possiamo comunque vedere da alcune opere di de Flandes i paesaggi castigliani dell'epoca. | © Wikipedia
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