This is the first in-depth historical study of Jan Gossart (ca. 1478-1532), one of the most important painters of the Renaissance in northern Europe. Providing a richly illustrated narrative of the Netherlandish artist's life and art, Marisa Anne Bass shows how Gossart's paintings were part of a larger cultural effort in the Netherlands to assert the region's ancient heritage as distinct from the antiquity and presumed cultural hegemony of Rome. Focusing on Gossart's vibrant, monumental mythological nudes, the book challenges previous interpretations by arguing that Gossart and his patrons did not slavishly imitate Italian Renaissance models but instead sought to contest the idea that the Roman past gave the Italians a monopoly on antiquity. Drawing on many previously unused primary sources in Latin, Dutch, and French, Jan Gossart and the Invention of Netherlandish Antiquity offers a fascinating new understanding of both the painter and the history of northern European art at large.

About the Author
Marisa Anne Bass is assistant professor in the Art History and Archaeology Department at Washington University in St. Louis.

Reviews
"[A] fascinating and beautifully produced book... Marisa Anne Bass's fine book can help open up a debate about specific artists, about the role of traditions in the shaping of art, and about the relationship between a sixteenth-century moment and a twentieth-century one, which is long overdue."--Gabriel Josipovici, Times Literary Supplement "A satisfyingly lavishly illustrated, beautifully written and detailed study of one of the Renaissance's most important northern European painters, Jan Gossart."--Karen Shook, Times Higher Education "Totally original as well as lavishly illustrated, Jan Gossart and the Invention of Netherlandish Antiquity is as idiosyncratically informative as it is occasionally spellbinding."--David Marx, David Marx Reviews "This is a rich and rewarding book that wears its learning lightly and is full of insights into place and period. Succinct, well written and very well illustrated, Bass's book provides a stimulating guide to Gossart's work and a fresh perspective on the Renaissance in a specific area of Northern Europe."--Susan Foister, Art Newspaper "This well-documented, richly illustrated book offers an in-depth study of the career of Netherlandish artist Jan Gossart. Bass focuses on the artist's representations of classical and mythological subjects, and for the most part she bases the discussion on primary sources in Latin, Dutch, and French--sources not previously used by art historians and scholars in association with Gossart's works... A well-balanced interplay of visual analyses and historical investigations."--Choice "Beautifully written and full of provocative insights into the humanist ambiance and intellectual network associated with Jan Gossart's mythological paintings."--Maryan W. Ainsworth, Burlington Magazine



Book Information
ISBN 9780691169996
Author Marisa Anne Bass
Format Hardback
Page Count 224
Imprint Princeton University Press
Publisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 851g