''Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character'', is a 1953 book on

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

by Erwin Panofsky, derived from the 1947–48 Charles Eliot Norton Lectures. The book had a wide impact on studies of

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620 AD) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occ ...

and

Early Netherlandish painting Early Netherlandish painting, traditionally known as the Flemish Primitives, refers to the work of artists active in the Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period. It flourished especial ...

in particular, but also studies in

iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...

, art history, and

intellectual history Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual hist ...

in general. The book is particularly well-known for its iconographic treatment of

Van Eyck Van Eyck or Van Eijk () is a Dutch toponymic surname. ''Eijck'', ''Eyck'', ''Eyk'' and ''Eijk'' are all archaic spellings of modern Dutch ("oak") and the surname literally translates as "from/of oak". However, in most cases, the family name refers ...

's '' Arnolfini Portrait'' as a kind of marriage contract, a hypothesis advanced by Panofsky as early as 1934. The book remains influential despite its reliance on black-and-white reproductions of paintings, which led to some errors of analysis. ''Early Netherlandish Painting'' shares its title with the comprehensive, 14-volume survey by Max J. Friedländer, a fact obliquely acknowledged at the beginning of the preface.''Early Netherlandish Painting'', p. vii

References

;References ;Sources *Panofsky, Erwin. ''Early Netherlandish Painting, Its Origins and Character''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1953. **Reprinted in paperback as a Harper and Row "Icon Edition," 1971. *Holly, Michael Ann. ''Panofsky and the Foundations of Art History.'' Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1984. *Podro, Michael. ''The Critical Historians of Art.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, 1982. *Shone, Richard and Stonard, John-Paul, eds. ''The Books That Shaped Art History: From Gombrich and Greenberg to Alpers and Krauss''. London: Thames & Hudson, 2013.

External links

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(free registration required) 1953 non-fiction books Art history books Harvard University Press books Panofsky {{art-book-stub