Early Netherlandish Painting (Panofsky book)
Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character is a 1953 book on art history by Erwin Panofsky, derived from the 1947–48 Charles Eliot Norton Lectures. The book had a wide impact on studies of Renaissance art and Early Netherlandish painting in particular, but also studies in iconography, art history, and intellectual history in general. The book is particularly well-known for its iconographic treatment of Van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait as a kind of marriage contract, a hypothesis advanced by Panofsky as early as 1934. The book remains influential despite its reliance on black-and-white reproductions of paintings, which led to some errors of analysis.
First edition, Volume one: Text, Volume two: Plates | |
| Author | Erwin Panofsky |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Volume one: Madonna of Chancellor Rolin, c. 1435 by Jan van Eyck Volume two: The Virgin of the Annunciation, from the Portinari Triptych, c. 1479 by Hugo van der Goes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Art history |
| Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Publication date | 1953 |
| Media type | Print (hardback (1953) and paperback (1971)) |
| Pages | 358 pages of text, 150 pages of notes, 496 illustrations |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-436683-0 |
Early Netherlandish Painting shares its title with the comprehensive, 14-volume survey by Max J. Friedländer, a fact obliquely acknowledged at the beginning of the preface.