5.7.17

Tradition & Innovation in Belgian Art




"Tradition and Innovation in Belgian Art"
A Lecture by Mariano Akerman

Among the major achievements of Belgian artists are the development of the oil painting technique and the creation of a suggestive interplay between the concepts of reality and imagination in the visual arts.

Art-historian Mariano Akerman explores a group of Belgian artworks, to reveal their aesthetic qualities and hidden meanings. He considers the artworks from original, thought-enlarging perspectives, and makes them accessible to everyone.

Experienced and multi-prized, Akerman teaches Art History since 1981. He has given lectures on Belgian art in numerous educational institutions in Jerusalem, Manila, Buenos Aires, Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Rio de Janeiro.


01. Masterpieces of Mimesis and Fantasy
01. Jan van Eyck: Self Portrait, oil, 1433
02. Van Eyck: The Arnolfini Marriage, 1434
03. Rogier de la Pasture: Portrait of Antoine de Bourgogne, c. 1460
04. Robert Campin: Portrait of a Lady, c. 1435
05. Hugo van der Goes: Portrait of a Man, c. 1475
06. Joris Hoefnagel: Tulips, Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta, 1590
07. Hoefnagel: A Fertility Spirit, from Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta
08. Gérard David: Execution of the Corrupt Judge Sisamnes, 1498
09. Petrus Christus—Pierre Christophe: The Bride (detail), 1449
10. Quentin Metsys: The Grotesque Old Woman, 1513
11. Comparison. Leonardo da Vinci: Testa Grottesca, sanguine
12. Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Big Fish Eat Small Fish, 1556
13. James Ensor: Skeletons fighting over a Pickled Herring, 1891
14. René Magritte: The Flavor of Tears, 1946
15. Christophe: The Bride and the Groom (detail), 1449
16. Nicaise Roussel: Arabesque 10, from De Grotesco, 1623
17. Schenk Schwartz: Portrait of a Young Man, 16th century
18. René Magritte: The Natural Graces, 1964


















To Celebrate Friendship and Cultural Diversity
Meeting the Visual Arts
A Series of Art-Appreciation Lectures, by Mariano Akerman



Additional resources



Grotesqueness À Gogo