Jan Mabuse

Background

Jan Mabuse was born at Maubeuge, France about 1478.

Career

Possibly a pupil of Gerard David of Bruges, he became a master in the painters' guild of Antwerp in 1503. About 1507 he entered the service of Philip of Burgundy, whom he accompanied on a visit to Rome in 1508-1509. Thereafter he continued to work for Philip while acquiring other princely patrons among the Hapsburgs.

Mabuse is important chiefly because he was among the first Flemings of the 16th century to be influenced by the art of the Italian Renaissance, but he drew his inspiration from such secondary sources as the Milanese followers of Leonardo and the example of Albrecht Dürer.

Particularly in narrative pictures his vaunted Italianism is a veneer that hardly goes deeper than the choice of pagan themes, employment of the nude, and the use of misunderstood classical ornament. He retains the minuteness of rendering of late medieval art, and his figure structure remains awkward. However, he was an accomplished craftsman with a searching eye and great feeling for tactility. He succeeded well as a portraitist: his subjects are often endowed with a certain monumental dignity, which, combined with lively characterization, produces an art of considerable vitality. Especially typical examples of Mabuse's work are an Epiphany in London, the Neptune and Amphitrite in Berlin, and the portrait of Carondelet in Paris.

Achievements

• He was one of the first artists to introduce the style of the Italian Renaissance into the Low Countries.