The Leyden School, 1500 - 1535: The second phase of the flowering of Dutch art

The first phase of the flowering of Dutch art occurred during the last third of the 15th century, was centered in the city of Haarlem, and was evidenced by the work of artists such as Dirk Bouts, Albert van Ouwater, and Geertgen tot Sint Jans, among others. This school was somewhat disaggregated, with the links between participants difficult to establish. Not so for the Leyden School.

The Leyden School refers to artists who painted in that town during the first third of the 16th-century and included such luminaries as Cornelis Engelbrechts and Lucas van Leyden. Unlike the situation with the Haarlem School, we know that Engelbrechts established a workshop in the city and trained a number of students -- including the aforementioned Lucas van Leyden. We can also identify the work of the school based on similarity of technique in the works of a number of its members.

Abbie Vandivere (Energetic and Skillful Techniques of the Sixteenth-Century Leiden School, Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 4:1 (Winter 2012)) observes that "if several painters work in the same milieu, have access to a similar range of material, and are taught within the same workshop, they will logically share certain techniques." The techniques of the artists of the Leyden School, she said, "have many similarities but diverge in individual ways."

Abbie was able to arrive at these conclusions because the Stedelijk Museum de Lakenhal in Leyden and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, between them, have enough paintings from the region to provide an overview of the Leyden artistic production between 1500 and 1535. Detailed studies of a subset of the Leyden School paintings allowed conservators to arrive at the techniques-conclusions included herein.

The father of the school appears to be Cornelis Engebrechtsz (1465 - 1527), the first important painter from Leyden and master of a large, prolific workshop. He trained many important painters, to include Lucas van Leyden (1494 - 1533), Aertgen van Leyden (1488 - 1564) and his son Peter Cornelisz Kunst (Lucas van Leyden went on to become better known for his prints and engravings, in addition to being a well-regarded painter. Peter Connelisz founded a workshop that eventually surpassed his father's in size.).

When the Mannerist style made its way to Leyden from Antwerp, he incorporated some elements of this school into his own style: "Exaggerated emotionalism and monumental compositions populated by small, slender figures in pronounced contrapposto poses characterized Engebrechtsz's mature Mannerist style" (gettymuseum.org).

Two of his most significant works are altarpieces: The Lamentation (c. 1508) and Crucifixion (c. 1515 - 1518)

The Lamentation, c. 1508
Cornelis Engelbrechtsz

The Crucifixion, c. 1515 - 1518

Cornelisz Engebrechtsz

Source: settemuse.it

Technique
The traditional technique of early Netherlandish painters revolved around superimposed layers and transparent glazes applied directly over the primer or on top of opaque, light-colored underlayers (Vandivere). The painting technique of the Leyden School is comparable to this approach in many ways but, in many cases, they seem to have modified this technique. And the innovations were passed from master to student in a workshop and on to other painters in the area.

School-unique features emerge upon closer inspection: "Sixteenth-century Leiden School painters exploited the properties of the traditional medium. The transparency, fluidity, ease of handling, and slow drying of linseed oil allowed them to" (Vandivere):

• have the underdrawing show through glazes -- all of the artists laid out the painting's composition with underdrawing (included contour lines as well as areas of shadow indicated by hatching or cross-hatching) and then applied the desired color in a single layer over the underdrawing. The underdrawing thus replaces the function of dark paint.
• apply a thin translucent layer between the primer and paint layers -- used either to (i) seal the underdrawing to prevent smearing during painting or (ii) isolate the primer such that it is prevented from absorbing oil medium from the paint layers.
• layer opaque paint and glazes -- expanded the range of tones that the painter could achieve.
• use blotting as a means of providing surface effects -- organic glazes can be viscous and difficult to handle with a brush. Painters could use fingers, blotting, etc., to move this glaze around. In the case of the Leyden School, no attempt is made to conceal these blotting efforts, raising the question as to whether they sought to exploit the tippled surface texture.

Other Schools
The Haarlem School continued into this period with painters such as Jan Mostaert and Jan Joest plying their trade in the city. Mostaert is generally associated with Romanist work during the Northern Renaissance so it will be interesting to determine the depth of that school's penetration in Dutch painting when I examine Romanists and Mannerists.

Wilhelm Valentiner posits that the Amsterdam and Utrecht Schools are direct outgrowths of the Haarlem School.


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