A European Movement Established in the North
From 1530, after Italy, Mannerism spread to the Northern countries. The troubled times and growing contact with Italy contributed to the expansion of this precious style, which lasted well into the 17th Century. This trend is sometimes expressed with echos of Roman Caravaggism in a manner which is both delightful and unique.
L'Humanité avant le déluge (Mankind Before the Flood), a work from the late period of Cornelis van Haarlem, the greatest painter of the Haarlem school, is a masterly lesson in painting, its religious message being emphasised by the threatening presence of Noah's ark in the upper corner of the composition.
The Joueur de musette (Accordion Player) attributed to Pieter Wtewael is an example of the introduction of the pastoral scene to the North. The exhibition of wealth, a characteristic theme of Flemish painting, is vividly treated in the Noces de Cana (Marriage of Cana) by Franck II Francken, a member of a dynasty of painters whose production was on a semi-industrial scale.
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