Marinus: Pintor de Reymerswale

Marinus van Reymerswale (c. 1489 – active until c. 1546) remains an enigmatic artist. He appears to have worked in the shadow of the great masters of Netherlandish genre painting, such as Quinten Massys, who plied their trade in Antwerp in the first half of the sixteenth century. Today he is best known for his paintings of Saint Jerome in his study, a popular iconography in Antwerp, and for his paintings of figures from the world of finance, tax collectors, bankers, and money changers, whose widespread popularity helped to shape the image of these trades over the centuries.

An original historiographical approach as well as new technical research carried out at the Museo del Prado have provided important information for a better understanding of both these subjects and the conditions and methods of production of Marinus’ paintings in the context of the emerging Antwerp art market and the material culture of his time.

This publication, the first monographic study devoted to the artist, includes several essays that enrich our knowledge about Marinus. They include a discussion of the existing documentary information on the painter, an introduction to the Antwerp art market in Marinus’s time, and other texts that examine relevant aspects of his paintings, such as the clothing and the bookbindings that appear in his pictures. In addition, the catalogue of works, which includes paintings from all the stages of his relatively short period of activity, provides an in-depth analysis of many aspects of the artist’s work.

Illustrated with almost one hundred colour images, this book is an essential contribution to the life and work of this original artist. The texts that make up the catalogue have been written by prestigious specialists in restoration, conservation and artistic and historical studies in the European Renaissance:

Laura Alba holds a PhD in Fine Arts and a degree in Painting Restoration. In 2004 she joined the Museo Nacional del Prado where she is responsible for the radiographic technique of works of art. Her activity focuses on the study of artistic procedures through imaging techniques, with special attention to the creative processes of Spanish and Flemish painters.

María Dolores Gayo holds a degree in Chemistry from the Complutense University of Madrid. Since 1985 she has worked for the Ministry of Culture as a specialist in the analysis of cultural property and in 2004 she joined the Museo Nacional del Prado. She is the author of several publications on pictorial materials and their processing technology, as well as technical studies of works by European painters.

Maite Jover de Celis holds a PhD in Fine Arts, a degree in Biological Sciences and a diploma in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. Her work at the Analysis Laboratory of the Museo Nacional del Prado focuses on the analysis of painting materials in relation to the history of artistic technology and on the study of wooden painting supports, their manufacturing process and their dating by means of dendrochronology.

Adri Mackor, holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Amsterdam, is an expert on Marinus van Reymerswale and has been researching the artist for over 20 years. He contributed to several exhibitions and publications featuring the artist and is the author of „Marinus van Reymerswale: Painter, Lawyer and Iconoclast?“ (1995).

Professor Nicholas Pickwoad has worked as a book conservator, adviser on book conservation to the National Trust in the UK, chief conservator in Harvard University Library, head of the St Catherine’s Monastery Library Conservation Project in Sinai, Egypt and director of the Ligatus Research Centre at the University of the Arts London, which is dedicated to the history of bookbinding. He teaches and publishes widely on the history of bookbinding and is currently working on the codicology of the manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci.  

Christine Seidel holds a PhD in art history from the Freie Universität Berlin and specialises in late Medieval and Northern Renaissance art. She currently works at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and held the fellowship of the Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson in the department of Flemish Painting and Northern Schools at the Museo nacional del Prado in 2018

Alice Taatgen is curator at the historic Royal Palace Amsterdam for the Royal Collections of the Netherlands. In that capacity she works on exhibitions and publications on a wide range of subjects focussed on a broad audience, and most recently curated a major exhibition on 17th and 18th century cartography called 'The Universe of Amsterdam' (2019).

Filip Vermeylen (PhD. Columbia University 2002) is Professor of Global Art Markets. He lectures and publishes on various aspects of the economics of art and culture, and is currently the Research Director of the Department of Arts and Culture Studies. He is especially interested in the history and functioning of art markets since the Renaissance, the notion of quality in the visual arts, the role of intermediaries as arbiters of taste and emerging art markets such as India. He is a board member of The International Art Market Association (TIAMSA) and co-founder of the Rotterdam Arts & Sciences Lab (www.rasl.nu). Together with Christian Huemer (Belverdere, Vienna), he is currently writing a book on the history of the art market which will be published by Getty Publications.

ISBN: 978-84-8480-551-9

Published with the collaboration of Fundación de Amigos del Museo del Prado and American Friends of Prado Museum.