Dieric Bouts the Elder

Name

Dieric Bouts the Elder

Life Dates

1410/20-1475

Country

Belgium

Movement

Northern Renaissance

Dieric Bouts the Elder Biography

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.