Peinture flamande des van Eyck à Metsys

Published in 1970 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, this volume represents the scholarly work of Leo van Puyvelde, a distinguished Belgian art historian and former director of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. The book serves as a comprehensive study of the evolution of Flemish painting, tracing its trajectory from the foundational innovations of the van Eyck brothers in the early 15th century through to the expressive realism of Quentin Metsys in the early 16th century.

The text was designed to provide an authoritative yet accessible survey of the Northern Renaissance for an English-speaking audience. Van Puyvelde sought to illuminate how these painters balanced technical mastery in oil mediums with a profound shift toward humanism and domestic intimacy. Upon its release, the work was received by critics as a standard reference point for students of art history, lauded for the clarity of its analysis regarding the shift from late Gothic sensibilities to the burgeoning Renaissance style in the Low Countries.