The iconoclastic crisis that swept across the Low Countries in 1566 left its mark. This popular uprising, partially inspired by Protestant ideas, is above all associated with the destruction of works of art and the event is generally considered as a milestone in the history of the Netherlands. It is therefore rather surprising that it had never received the attention it deserved from researchers.

Based on unpublished sources, Koenraad Jonckheere has examined how the great painters of the period gradually turned towards a new visual language. It appears that this period was also a turning point in the history of art and that the paintings made at this time show a subtle, but significant, reinterpretation of traditional iconography and religious style. In fact, they introduced Dutch Baroque.

Koenraad Jonckheere is Associate Professor at the University of Ghent and a member of the King Baudouin Foundation’s Heritage Fund Management Committee.

Experiments in decorum (1566-1585). Antwerp Art after Iconoclasm (available in Dutch only) is on sale in bookshops and via the publisher, the Mercator Fund.