David Freedberg gives a lecture on Painting after Iconoclasm: What happened to painting in Antwerp after 1566? Freedberg will focus on iconoclasm in the Netherlands, Antwerp in particular, and thereby questions concerning the relationship between art and politics. Some of the paintings Freedberg will be discussing are part of Nationalmuseum’s collection.
David Freedberg is Pierre Matisse Professor of the History of Art and Director of The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America.
Date: Tuesday 7 September at 6 pm
Place: The Auditorium, ground floor, Nationalmuseum
Admission: Free. No pre-bookings
David Freedberg's own words about the lecture:
"The great iconoclastic outbreaks of 1566 and 1585 in Antwerp not only resulted in the loss of a large number of major and minor art works; it also created a lack of confidence both among patrons and painters. The lacunae in our knowledge of painting between the death of Bruegel in 1569 and the return of Rubens from Italy in 1608 is perhaps just a further symptom of this decline. But the situation was not as negative as it may seem. The initial slowing of ecclesiastical patronage led to the flourishing of other genres, from portraiture to landscape and still life, thus contributing to the great flourishing of new genres in seventeenth century Holland.