Gothic Era



Gothic Art Map

Dieric Bouts

(b Haarlem, c. 1415; d 1475).

He is mentioned several times in the archives of Leuven between 1457 and his death, although his name is sometimes confused with that of Hubrecht Steurbout, another painter in Leuven. In 1468 Bouts was named official painter to the city. A century later the chronicler in Leuven, Joannes Molanus, remarked that he ‘excelled as an innovator in depicting the countryside’. Bouts was also described, by van Mander ([1603]–1604), as a founder of the Haarlem school of painting along with Albert van Ouwater and Geertgen tot Sint Jans. However, it is his representation of landscape that is still recognized as his principal contribution to 15th-century Netherlandish painting.
 

The Virgin and Child