nd
founded a school of his own called the

SCHOOL OF BRABANT: He was more emotional and dramatic than Jan van
Eyck, giving much excited action and pathetic expression to his
figures in scenes from the passion of Christ. He had not Van Eyck's
skill, nor his detail, nor his color. More of a draughtsman than a
colorist, he was angular in figure and drapery, but had honesty,
pathos, and sincerity, and was very charming in bright background
landscapes. Though spending some time in Italy, he was never
influenced by Italian art. He was always Flemish in type, subject, and
method, a trifle repulsive at first through angularity and emotional
exaggeration, but a man to be studied.

By Van der Goes (1430?-1482) there are but few good examples, the
chief one being an altar-piece in the Uffizi at Florence. It is
angular in drawing but full of character, and in beauty of detail and
ornamentation is a remarkable picture. He probably followed Van der
Weyden, as did also Justus van Ghent (last half of fifteenth century).
Contemporary with these men Dierick Bouts (1410-1475) established a
school at Haarlem. He was Dutch by birth, but after 1450 settled in
Louvain, and in his art belongs to the Flemish school. He was
influenced by Van der Weyden, and shows it in his detail of hands and
melancholy face, though he differed from him in dramatic action and in
type. His figure was awkward, his color warm and rich, and in
landscape backgrounds he greatly advanced the painting of the time.

Memling (1425?-1495?), one of the greatest of the school, is another
man about whose life little is known. He was probably associated with
Van der Weyden in some way. His art is founded on the Van Eyck school,
and is remarkable for sincerity, purity, and frankness of attitude. As
a religious painter, he was perhaps beyond all his contemporaries in
tenderness and pathos. In portraiture he was exceedingly strong in
characterization, and in his figures very graceful. His flesh painting
was excellent, but in textures or landscape work he was not
remarkable. His best followers were Van der Meire (1427?-1474?) and
Gheeraert David (1450?-1523). The latter was famous for the fine,
broad landscapes in the backgrounds of his pictures, said, however, by
critics to have been painted by Joachim Patinir. He was realistically
horrible in many subjects, and though a close recorder of detail he
was much broader than any of his predecessors.

FLEMISH SCHOOLS OF THE SIXTEE