A native of Utrecht and an architect and sculptor active in Amsterdam and Delft. De Keyser may have received his training in his hometown from Cornelis Bloemaert. In 1591, he settled in Amsterdam, where, three years later, he was appointed the city’s official stonemaker and sculptor. As architect, he designed the Zuiderkerk (1603–1611; tower fin. 1614) and the Westerkerk (1620–1631) in Amsterdam, and the Town Hall in Delft (1618–1620). With these structures, de Keyser provided a transition from the decorative style of Northern Renaissance and Mannerist architecture to the Dutch classicist vocabulary of Jacob van Campen. His greatest masterpiece in sculpture is the tomb of William “the Silent” of Orange (1614–1623) in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. This is a freestanding monument that includes the figure of the deceased dressed in armor and surrounded by Justice, Prudence, Religion, and Liberty. Keyser executed these figures in bronze and set them against a complex marble architectural tomb structure, providing striking contrasts of color and texture.
German painter from Münster, where he is first recorded in 1446. Koerbecke exemplifies the rejection in Germany of the International Style during the first half of the 15th century in favor of greater naturalism and solidity of forms. His most important masterpiece is the Marienfeld Altarpiece, painted for the high altar of the Cistercian Abbey Church of Marienfeld, Münster (1457). Now dismantled and its pieces scattered throughout various museums, the work includes scenes of the life of the Virgin and Christ’s Passion. Christ before Pilate, now in the Landesmuseum in Münster, is one of those scenes and shows the figures in contemporary garb against a German cityscape to appeal to local 15th-century viewers. Others are the Road to Calvary, also in Münster, and the Crucifixion, in the Berlin Staatliche Museen. These works reveal Koerbecke’s dependence on Flemish prototypes, particularly in the treatment of drapery, the vibrancy of colors, and deep emotionalism. His figures, however, are not as voluminous as the Flemish prototypes.
German painter from Albrecht Dürer’s workshop, where he was active in c. 1500. Kulmbach became a citizen of Nuremberg in 1511, and from 1514–1516, he is documented in Krakow, Poland, where he painted several altarpieces. His Tucher Altarpiece (1513; Nuremberg, Church of Sebald) shows Dürer’s influence in the solidity and monumentality of the figures. The work is a sacra conversazione type, with the Virgin and Child surrounded by saints. Venetian influence, learned through Dürer, is clearly discerned in the work, particularly in the inclusion of the landscape as backdrop, the isolation of the Virgin and Child from the other figures through architecture, and the Bellini-like musical angels at their feet. A versatile master, Kulmbach also rendered landscapes and portraits. An example of the former is the Calling of St. Peter in the Florence Uffizi (1514–1516), an evocative work filled with atmospheric effects. An example of his portraiture is the Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg (1511; Munich, Alte Pinakothek), with the sitter’s heraldic devices prominently displayed to articulate clearly his social standing.