Inherited Geometry: a Socio-Professional Pattern in the Low Countries, 1480-1560

At the beginning of the 16th century the Habsburg Low Countries witnessed the emergence of a highly skilled class of painters who also often actively engaged in architectural design practice. This phenomenon has often been explained as being the result of an influx of Italian and humanist thinking about the artist such via the writings of figures like Alberti and Vitruvius. In this article, I propose an alternative account, using selected case studies to argue that this development was an internal process. Essential to changing design practices was the transfer of geometrical design knowledge between guilds, a transfer that transgressed traditional boundaries. Finally, I explore the effect of this knowledge dissemination on the evolving status of the visual artist.