Import /export: Brabantine altarpieces in the Rhineland, c. 1500--1530.

The Brabantine altarpiece, combining sculpted shrines and painted wings, was among the most important forms of devotional art made in the South Netherlands between 1400 and 1550. Available on open market outlets and on commission, they attracted buyers at home and abroad. This study considers the popularity and prestige of these complex ensembles of painting, sculpture, and architectural design by examining the evidence offered by a significant group of over fifty retables preserved in the Rhineland. It aims to reveal the multiple ways in which Brabantine altarpieces were consumed---purchased, marketed, modified, copied, quoted, and translated---and the various ways in which the making and consumption of these works revise prevailing views of the distinction between art made to order and art for the market. The majority of the altarpieces in the Rhenish cluster combine ready-made parts and made-to-order components in countless mixtures. As such, these partially customized works provide an opportunity to reconsider the degree of interaction between producers and consumers, and to assess the role that demand and consumption played in determining a product's final appearance. Looking at altarpieces not only as exported products, but also as imported ones that generated changes in comparable local products, this study seeks to enrich current perceptions of the Antwerp art market, while revising questionable assumptions about the relationship of producers and consumers, and the character of art made for export. The first chapter addresses the altarpieces' modular design, and examines the degree to which this flexibility of design allowed clients to determine the object's final appearance. The second chapter considers Brabantine altarpieces as imported goods and explores the dynamics of their circulation among local Rhenish products. Turning to documentary sources, the third chapter examines the importance of polychromy, a process that introduced another platform for client participation in the making and consumption of these works. The fourth chapter offers a close reading of local variants along with selected sources that shed light on the vivid narrative properties that characterize Brabantine retables. These documents---visual and textual---underscore the value that makers and viewers of these works attached to their capacity for visual storytelling. The final chapter considers the prestige of the Brabantine altarpiece through an analysis of its visual translation into contemporary media such as enamelwork, tapestry, and manuscript illumination that simulated its distinctive form. An illustrated catalog accompanies the text.Ph.D.Art historyCommunication and the ArtsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/125261/2/3186796.pd