Historical context for Early Netherlandish paintings: Burgundian rule

The art of the Low Countries is having a moment right now: this is the 350th anniversary of the death of Rembrandt and his life and heritage are being celebrated with exhibitions throughout Holland; the Art Institute of Chicago is exhibiting Rembrandt Portraits through June 9; the Metropolitan Museum in New York is showing an exhibition titled In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces at the Met through the end of the year; and The Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco is exhibiting Early Rubens through September 8th.

In that I will probably be seeing one or more of these exhibitions, I wanted to get ahead of the background material so, in the next few posts, I will summarize the general environment and the painting styles associated with this region and period. The figure below shows the time scale, political conditions, and painting styles that I will be covering.

The Low Countries (modern-day Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg) evolved from components in the Roman Belgica and Germania Inferior Provinces in the 1st century BCE to independent secular and spiritual provinces (see below) in the 10th century.

These principalities were not, at this time, united but "displayed common characteristics in their economics, social structure, and culture." All of the principalities had a feudal relationship with the German king except for Flanders which primarily owed fealty to the French king (the eastern part of the county was vassaled to the German king).

The Dukes of Burgundy -- a cadet line of the Valois kings of France -- began making inroads into the Netherlands beginning with the marriage, in 1369, of Philip the Bold to Margaret, daughter of Louis de Mâle, Count of Flanders. Philip came into possession of all of Louis' territories upon his death in 1384. Upon Philip's death, all of those territories passed on to his firstborn, John, and, eventually, to Philip III the Good, who also secured Brabant (from his Uncle's branch of the family), Hainut-Holland, Namur, and Luxembourg.

The Burgundian Dukes sought to exert centralized control over the Low Country territories but it was a slow go. The chart below shows some of the mechanisms Philip implemented. He elected governors for each region but some of the states were resistant to having foreigners running the administration in their territories. They claimed to be concerned because these administrators were French-speaking while the general populace spoke Dutch. In 1473 Charles the Bold sought to establish a kingdom in the region with him as the Regent but was unsuccessful.

The death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy provided the states with the opportunity retrieve some of the autonomy they had lost at the hands of the Burgundian dukes.

Charles the Bold

First, with his death, all of the territories were inherited by his daughter Mary. The States-General compelled Mary to sign the first constitution (Great Privilege of Ghent) for all the principalities of the Low Countries. It recognized extensive rights for the States-General, prescribed the legal language to be used in courts, and "restored all local and communal rights to the towns and provinces of Flanders, Brabant, Hainat, and Holland which had been abolished by the decree of the Dukes of Burgundy."

Burgundian possessions in the Low Countries at the death of
Charles the Bold. (By Watisfictie - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34051429)

Mary married Archduke Maximilian of Austria of the House of Habsburg in 1477 and bore him a son (Philip) and a daughter (Margaret). She died in a riding accident in 1482 and her minor son succeeded her as Duke of Burgundy under the guardianship of his father.

Mary of Burgundy

The Flemish port city of Bruges was the main northern European center for international banking and trade (Bruges had also been a favorite court location for the dukes of Burgundy.). The population density of the Low Countries, and the relative affluence of its trading and finance industry populace, made it an important market for imports. The Low Countries produced and exported woolen goods and high-quality objects such as fashionable clothing, art, and jewelry.

The Dukes of Burgundy were important patrons of the arts during their reign while newly wealthy private citizens also commissioned art but, in their cases, as part of a growing interest in private meditation and prayer. Portraits were also commissioned in increasing numbers.

The inhabitants of the Low Countries had entered this era as increasingly independent principalities and had withstood the efforts of centralization by the Dukes to exit the era with their independence intact but also with strong cross-state institutional structures that would serve them in good stead in the future.

I will cover the Habsburg rule in my next post.

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