Jan Rombouts - 9782503525693

This monograph introduces the sixteenth-century Louvain artist Jan Rombouts (after 1475/before 1485 - 1535), whose oeuvre was previously assigned to Jan van Rillaer. Debates concerning Rombouts's identity are explored in detail by means of reinterpretation of published archival documents and the discovery of numerous new documents. The publication of the sources, most with full transcriptions, provides a sound basis for the author's arguments supporting the new identification.

The remaining oeuvre of the artist, as it is known today, comprises engravings and paintings. This monograph argues for the expansion of Rombouts's oeuvre with some dozen stained-glass windows, roundels and a drawn design for a church window, while suggestions are put forth for other possible attributions. Attention is given to the historical context for Rombouts's activity as a glass painter, and the attributions of these works, none of which are monogrammed, are made by comparing their style with that of works securely attributed to the artist. This section is backed up by numerous illustrations of the windows, many of which are quite inaccessible.

Finally, a discussion of archival sources concerning the Louvain confraternity of St Luke and commissions for works of art to local artists in the period covered by the book, form the rich historical background against which Jan Rombouts executed his oeuvre of engravings, paintings, roundels and stained-glass windows. The size, individuality, diversity and craftsmanship of this oeuvre enable us to finally identify and place him securely within the history of south Netherlandish art of this time. Art historian Yvette Bruijnen (1967) received her doctorate from the Free University Amsterdam in 1999. She is co-author of collection and exhibition catalogues of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Mauritshuis in The Hague and the Noordbrabants Museum in's-Hertogenbosch. In addition, she is co-author of the collection catalogue Dutch paintings of the seventeenth century in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Volume I - Artists born between 1570 and 1600 (2007) and co-editor of Early Netherlandish paintings in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Volume I - Artists born before 1500 (2009). She is on the editorial board of Oud Holland, Quarterly for Dutch Art History and publishes and lectures mainly on early Netherlandish painters. For the present monograph she received a J. Clawson Mills fellowship (2005--2006) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.