Olga's Gallery

Born and trained in Haarlem, Dieric Bouts the Elder (also: Dirk, Dierick) spent most of his life in Leuven working for Flemish aristocrats. Little is known about his training and work. Even if not actually a pupil of Rogier himself, Bouts was profoundly affected by his work. He continued and developed Rogier’s style to an almost radical degree: his preference of vertical compositions, of types instead of individual, exquisite, thoroughly detailed garments, which conceal the body, looks like a return to the Gothic. Whether Bouts was the founder of this ‘gothic revival’, a characteristic of Netherlandish Northern Renaissance, or whether the painter was simply part of the more general trend sweeping over Europe after the middle of the century, is hard to decide. Read Dieric Bouts the Elder's Full Biography