Lecture: Family Affairs. Unpublished profiles of Italian Patrons in Bruges (1477-1530)

Federica Veratelli (Art historical researcher, and temporarily associated with Université Paris-Est Créteil Val de Marne) is the second speaker in the series, Lectures of the Flemish Research Centre for the Arts in the Burgundian Netherlands.

In the archives of Rijsel, there are a great many documents to be found regarding the presence of Italians in the Habsburg court after the death of Charles the Bold in 1477. The discovery of these documents offers the possibility to sketch out profiles of Italian merchants in Bruges at the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th Century that were unknown up until this present. This has to do with a new type of merchant, primarily coming from Florence: bankers and procurers of luxury products for the court. Often they function as patrons of Flemish works of art. Folco and Benedetto, the nephews of Tommaso Portinari, were painted by Hans Memling, and Bandini Baroncelli by an anonymous Flemish Master. Gaspare Bonciani is the patron of Gerard David. Girolamo Frescobaldi and his children collect a number of paintings in Bruges, bearing witness to a northern taste, which in turns piques the interest of Margareta of Austria. In this lecture, on the basis of a variety and, for the most part, unpublished sources, a few of these little-known figures will be given due attention.

Practical:

When: 6 December 15.00
Where: Vriendenzaal Musea Brugge, Dijver 12, 8000 Bruges
Price: No charge
More info: Flemish Research Centre for the Arts in the Burgundian Netherlands
Attention: The language of delivery for this lecture is French.

(News item 27 November 2012)