Abstract
Max J. Friedländer (1867-1958). Art and Connoisseurship, a Life dedicated to Early Netherlandish Painting, aims to elucidate the life and work of Max Friedländer on the basis of a number of themes, especially his connoisseurship and its meaning for the exploration of early Netherlandish painting. Already during his career connoisseurship
... read more
was judged as unscientific and consequently was therefore unfit to be called a methodology. In spite of the criticism, Friedländer stood by connoisseurship as a manner of approach by which solid academic results could be achieved. The core question of this dissertation is to what extent and in what manner Friedländer contributed to art historical questions that determined the discourse in his time and how he resisted the arguments of other protagonists. Chapter 1 is dedicated to Friedländer’s personality and his relationship with his superior, Wilhelm Bode, with whom he formed a seamless partnership. This is presented on the basis of two cases: the purchase in 1898 of seven seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings from the Hope collection and the acquisition in 1902 of a painting by Geertgen tot Sint Jans. Chapter 2 explores more thoroughly the essence of connoisseurship and the manner in which Friedländer tried to express this, in particular in the publications devoted entirely to the various aspects of connoisseurship. Chapters 3 and 4 are devoted to the shadowy side of the practice of connoisseurship. In the first place in relation to the phenomenon of forgery. Contemporaries of note are in this respect the Bruges collector Emile Renders, who in close cooperation with the restorer Jef Van der Veken within a short time amassed an impressive collection of Flemish primitives. Secondly, attention is devoted to the so-called expertise industry. While Friedländer recognised all too well the dark side of it, he nevertheless got into trouble. This eventually led to his emigration to the Netherlands, as described in chapter 5. Friedländer’s significance for the research on early Netherlandish painting will be illustrated on the basis of three case studies. Chapter 6 deals with Friedländer’s research on the Antwerp Mannerists. Friedländer was the first to make an attempt to distinguish artistic personalities in the mass of paintings that were produced in Antwerp workshops around 1520. The artistic personalities that he distinguished are still being acknowledged. Chapter 7 illustrates the question regarding the relationship between the Master of Flémalle and Rogier van der Weyden. Although Friedländer formulated an entirely plausible hypothesis, he nevertheless allowed himself to be persuaded by the views of Emile Renders, who considered the oeuvre of the Master of Flémalle as early work by Rogier van der Weyden. Chapter 8 focuses on the Ghent Altarpiece by the Van Eyck brothers and in particular on the attempts to distinguish the hand of Hubert and Jan. Friedländer was sceptical from the outset about these attempts. This was cleverly used by Renders to deny the existence of Hubert. Friedländer tolerated Renders’ hostile attitude towards other scholars, due to the fact that his approach might offer a solution to the question.
show less
